4 Day Diet

With my dad coming out to visit us, then my mom, then my dad again my diet got pretty screwed up! Having visitors and going on vacation is always hard on the ol' diet since you are on the go most of the time and just grab what you can when you can.....that's what happens to us anyways. So after everyone left and things got back to normal I decided to do my 4 Day Diet to get my metabolism jump started again and to help flush out all the nastiness I had eaten. So for this Weight Loss Wednesday....or Trim Thursday since I am a day late posting this do to my impromptu road trip to Oregon, I am sharing everything I ate on my 4 Day Diet this time, I posted about my 4 Day Diet last year (Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4), and I will share how many pounds I lost.

I weighed myself the morning I started the diet and I weighed 162 pounds.

Day One:

Breakfast: A couple scrambled eggs, 1/4 of a grapefruit and a cup of yummy coffee.
Lunch: A Romain lettuce salad with cucumber, celery, green onion, green pepper and Fat Free Poppy Seed Dressing.
Dinner: 1/4 of a Tyson frozen turkey and steamed frozen green peas.
 After my morning cup of coffee all I drank was water the rest off the day!
 Day One Calories: 771


Day Two:

Breakfast: A few beaten eggs poured into 4 slices of Hillshire Farms Chicken Lunch Meat which I placed in a muffin pan. I topped the eggs with a bit of green onion then baked them for about 20 minutes until the eggs were fully cooked. I also had a 1/4 of a grapefruit and a cup of coffee...surprise surprise!
Lunch: A large can of Kroger's shredded chicken mixed with a bit of yellow mustard. I ate the chicken on top of cucumber slices.
Dinner: A turkey burger which I seasoned with Mrs. Dash then baked and topped it with 1/4 of an avocado. I had half a green zucchini which I drizzled with olive oil, seasoned with more Mrs. Dash then baked it.
Again after my coffee I drank a lot of water the rest of the day!
Day Two Calories: 1,085

Day Three:

Breakfast: A small egg omelet with a bit of sliced green onion, 1/4 a grapefruit and as usual a cup of coffee.
Lunch: A Romain lettuce salad with celery, green onion, a hard boiled egg, 3 Perdue all white meat chicken nuggets chopped and some Fat Free Zesty Italian dressing.
Dinner: A chicken breast with a drizzle of BBQ sauce and a side of baked asparagus.
After coffee it was water, water and more water for me!
Day Three Calories: 838


Day Four:

Breakfast: A few scrambles eggs with some chopped green onion in them, 1/4 a grapefruit and as always a cup of coffee.
Lunch: A can of tuna mixed with some yellow mustard which I ate on some sliced up celery stalks.
Dinner: A shredded chicken breast with sauteed green onions and green bell peppers. I sprinkled a bit of lite soy sauce on top.
Once again after coffee it was water, water, water!
Day Four Calories: 820

For my morning and afternoon snack each day I ate either a 90 calorie Strawberry Cereal Bar or a 100 calorie bag of Walnuts and Almonds.

I weighed myself on the morning of the 5th day and I weighed 159 pounds which means I lost a total of 3 pounds. This time I wasn't doing the diet to lose weight, just to help get my healthy lifestyle back on track, so the weight I did lose was just an added bonus. I feel so much better! I feel lighter and I have a lot more energy since I don't have nasty, fatty, greasy, salty food slowing me down.....ahhhh!

Beat The Heat Braides

As you can probably tell from some of my pictures I have super long, super thick hair which is naturally curly so it takes me forever and a day to style when I want to leave it down. So 95% of the time my hair is pulled back, especially during summer because I get so hot when its 90+ degrees outside and my hair is down. Since my hair is pretty much always up I get so bored with the same ol' bun so I find myself turning to different braided hair styles. I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite braid styles with you. Sorry if some of the styles are hard to see due to my dark non highlighted hair! 

I wear the normal side braid a lot, its just so super fast and easy.

I get a lot of fly aways so I like the top french braid bun style when we are going to do something more physical like hiking or swimming. It keeps my hair more secure and in place.

 For a little more fancy look I like to do the braided bun with two small side braids wrapped around the top and bottom of the bun. 

(This is where I got the idea from via Pinterest Lu Lu*s)

I have found myself doing the half french braid more and more since it keeps all my short layers intact and I don't have to fix the braid throughout the day because of run away strands of hair, I find myself redoing the normal side braid quite a bit because of this problem.

This diagonal french braid and bun can be fancy and casual and again it pretty darn easy to do. 

(This is the video I got this style from Carah Amelie)

I only used 3 tools to achieve each of these looks! A brush, small plastic ties and either bobby pins or spin pins!


(If you do not know how to French Braid check out this video)
http://youtu.be/ujS0VNOXeVg

Peanut Butter Banana "Ice Cream"

Most nights I am so full after dinner that I don't want anything else but there are those occasional times when I crave something sweet. Of course my diet really doesn't include a candy bar or a slice of cake (plus we don't have any of those sitting around the house) so I came up with my own sweet after dinner treat. For this Weight Loss Wednesday I wanted to share my healthier dessert with you .

 All you need is a bit overly ripe banana and some peanut butter.

I threw the banana and half the packet of peanut butter into my food processor and processed it until it was smooth. (If you don't have a food processor you should be able to squish the banana with a fork since it is so ripe.) I then stuck the bowl in the freezer for about an hour and voila.....peanut butter banana "ice cream"

July Favorites

July was great! My mom came out to visit us which was SO much fun, as usual, and we celebrated a bunch of birthdays...including my husbands! July was definitely a fun filled month! Here are some of my favorites from July.

Random: My husband bought me a new camera and I have been loving it! I take it everywhere with me!

Movie/TV Show: I am obsessed with the new season of True Blood! 

Style: I have been wearing summer dresses as much as I can! It has been so hot here and summer dresses have kept me cool...plus they are super cute!

Food: I have been drinking iced tea non stop, its so refreshing in the heat!

Music: I love this song so so very much, Tim McGraw ft. Taylor Swift and Keith Urban - Highway Don't Care. I listen to it over and over almost every day, my husband is getting pretty annoyed with me!

My July Disappointment: Pretty much every afternoon in July we had a thunderstorm with rain, wind, lightening, thunder (of course) and some times hail...I'm pretty over it!

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

One of my favorite foods is pizza, I just cant say no when someone suggests ordering it...I need more self control! I always feel so guilty after eating it though since one slice of pizza has about 285 calories, that's just crazyness! That's why I was so happy when cauliflower crust pizza came into my life via Pinterest! So for today's Weight Loss Wednesday I wanted to share with you the way I make my Cauliflower Crust White Grilled Chicken Pizza.

The recipe I use to make the crust is from eat. drink. smile

 My Crust Ingredients: A head of cauliflower (this made 2 personal sized pizza crusts), garlic powder, Italian seasoning, shredded Mozzarella, shredded Parmesan cheese and 2 eggs.

My Pizza Topping Ingredients: Cheesy Ragu Light Parmesan Alfredo sauce, 1 large chicken breast grilled, sun dried tomatoes and shredded mozzarella. (My mom also had artichoke on hers) 

The first thing I do is grate the head of cauliflower with my cheese grater, I would recommend a bigger greater cause it takes forever to grate all the cauliflower with my tiny one! I am going to try shredding the cauliflower in my food processor next time!

I then put the grated cauliflower in the microwave for about 8 minutes to soften it up.

 I put 1 cup of the cauliflower in a bowl then add one egg, the garlic powder, Italian seasoning, shredded mozzarella and shredded Parmesan cheese. (I just add as much seasoning and cheese as I want!) I mix everything together really well until it forms a ball of "dough." I do this two different times so I get two pizza crusts.

 I spray the foil I lay on the baking sheet then place the ball of "dough" in the middle of the pan and flatten it out with my fingers. I then brush on a bit of olive oil and sprinkle a bit of garlic powder on top of the "dough" to help it brown and give it a bit more flavor. 

  I bake the "dough" in the oven at 450 for 15 minutes or until it was golden brown. 

After the crust is baked I spread some of the Light Parmesan Alfredo sauce on the top of the crust, place the grilled chicken strips and sun dried tomatoes on top of the sauce then sprinkle the whole pizza with a bit of mozzarella cheese. I pop the baking sheet back into the oven under the broiler until the cheese is nice and melted.

Making this Cauliflower Crust White Pizza is kind of a long process but it is totally worth it! It is so scrumptious and the whole pizza is about 520 calories. So pretty much you can eat a whole personal size pizza for less calories then two slices of regular pizza....um yes please!

Gift Of Greece

My mom has dreamed of going to Greece for as long as I can remember but unfortunately she hasn't made it there....yet! My mom has done so much for my family and I so I wanted to do something special for her. So last time she was out here I surprised her with a trip to Greece!

My decoration theme was blue and white like the Greek flag. As a center piece I used a bouquet of Violets which is one of the national flowers of Greece. Everything I used I bought from second hand stores except the candles which I bought from my local grocery store. 

I had the Nikos Skalkottas station on Pandora playing on my iPad as dinner and dessert background music. 

I made Poulet A La Gracque which I served over Jasmine rice. I also made a Greek Salad.

We had the Greek wine Retsina which I found at one of our large liquor stores. 

(Warning! This wine is very woodsy and takes a lot of getting used to!)

In true Greek fashion I served a glass of ice water along with the wine.

For dessert I made Baklava which I served with coffee sweetened with condensed milk just like the Greek do.

Σας αγαπώ μαμά, σας ευχαριστώ για όλα όσα έχετε κάνει για μας!

(I love you mom, thank you for everything you have done for us!)

Colorado Renaissance Festival (C.I.C)

If you are in Colorado between June 15th and August 4th I would highly recommend going to the Colorado Renaissance Festival in Larkspur Colorado. My family and I go every year and we always have such a great time! 

As soon as you pull up the Renaissance Festival spirit sucks you in...

...see!!!

There is so SO much stuff to do inside the Renaissance Festival!

There are tons of stages all over the Festival grounds where multiple acts perform. Our all time favorite show is the Washing Wenches, bottom left picture, they are hilarious!

There is also an arena where you can watch jousting!

You definitely wont go hungry at the Festival because there is food, food and more food everywhere you look!

Don't be discouraged if you have a toddler because there is a lot of things for them to do at the Festival as well! Such as face painting, a ride on America's biggest rocking horse and riding on a camel or a lama. There is also the Children's Realm which has a massive petting zoo, a play place, pony rides and a fun little butterfly marry go round. 

(Fun fact: all the rides at the Renaissance Festival are man powered.)

 There are a lot of fun games for older kids and adults too! My husbands favorite is the Tomato Toss but as the sign says it is an insult game so I wouldn't recommend this game if you get offended by someone making jokes about you!

 Don't skip the royal parade that walks through the festival. With music, a fire breather and an elephant you and the kiddos will really enjoy watching this short parade.

The Renaissance Festival is such a fun experience so if you get the opportunity to go take it! 

For more information about the Colorado Renaissance Festival click the link below!
http://coloradorenaissance.com/





I hope you enjoyed this

A Tumblr To Inspire

Simply Taralynn

 For today's Weight Loss Wednesday I want to share a website that I came across awhile ago thanks to Pinterest. I was hooked as soon as I started reading her site, I pretty much stayed up all night going through everything....I was in ah! Her tips are great, her recipes are delicious, her ingredients are always fresh and healthy and her weight loss story is very inspiring! You must check her out! 

http://simplytaralynn.com/

Copycat KFC Bowl

I am not the biggest fan of KFC but when I saw the commercial for their Famous Bowl I was intrigued, it looked really good! So I looked up the Famous Bowl online and found out everything that was in it then looked up a copycat recipe for their signature home-style gravy and I got to work!

The Famous Bowl has mashed potatoes, sweet corn, bite size pieces of chicken, their home-style gravy and a shredded three cheese blend. The ingredients I used where what I already had in my cabinets and fridge but it would be super easy to buy all the ingredients in the official Famous Bowl!

Ingredients: Home-style mashed potatoes, corn, cheese and popcorn chicken

I found the copycat recipe for KFC's signature home-style gravy at Panlasang Pinoy

 Ingredients: 3 tablespoons butter

5 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 chicken cube

1 beef cube

2 1/4 cup water

In a sauce pan melt the butter over low heat. 

While the butter is melting dilute the cubes in the water. 

Add 2 tablespoons of the flour to the melted butter and stir continuously until the color is medium brown, this should take about 7 to 8 minutes. 

Add the rest of the flour and keep stirring.

Stir in the chicken beef broth and keep stirring to prevent lumps.

Turn up the heat to medium and bring the mixture to a boil.

Cook the gravy for about 5 minutes or until it thickens up.

Put the potatoes in a bowl and top them with some of the cooked corn. Add some of the baked popcorn chicken and drizzle some of the gravy over everything. Top off the bowl with a bit of cheese. Enjoy!