Homecoming!

Welcome home, daddy! You were greatly missed. Although, as you fell into a deep and completely un-rouse-able sleep on the couch well before the harrowing dinner hour and (later than it should have been) bedtime for fast turtle and baby bug…well, it was almost like having 3 babies to take care of. 😉

Waking up this morning to a sparkling clean bathroom, courtesy of your jet-lagged person being wide awake at 4am, well, that more than made up for your sleeping through the evening.

Our little family is complete again. 🙂

Weight Watchers: Day 43

Holy moly, day 43. I can hardly believe it–it doesn’t feel like it could have been that long already. And yet, here I am, having just passed the 10 lb mark this morning. I seem to have settled on losing around 1.6 lbs per week, which is just awesome. Having my parents living with me these past three weeks has been great, as we’re all on the plan and can cook together.

The secret so far? Fat-free, sugar-free pudding (1 point!) for dessert and air-popped popcorn with salt and spray butter (also 1 point) to help fill up. I was never too much of an evening muncher, but having both popcorn and pudding to look forward to makes you forget you’re even on a diet.

Of course, daddy comes home tomorrow (hurrah!) and that will probably shake up the eating…given that he’s got the metabolism of an olympic athlete and is always, always hungry. And happy to put away roughly 4 times what I can eat should eat at a given meal! The upside is more time to exercise now that he’s home…

Eggplant Lasagna

I experimented with some yummy vegetables this weekend, and came up with this low-fat, low-calorie lasagna. While most lasagnas end up somewhere between 350-600 calories per serving, this no-meat version is only 163 calories per serving! The eggplant, once baked in the lasagna, does an admirable job of replacing the creamy texture of ricotta cheese, and the fresh basil helps give this dish a garden-fresh taste. You could probably find some delicious eggplant and basil in a farmer’s market, but to test how simple I could make this recipe I just used what was at my local supermarket. If you try this recipe out, I’d love to hear how it turns out! Happy Cooking, Breana

Ingredients: 1.5 cups crushed canned Tomatoes 1 medium Eggplant 1 cup Mozzarella cheese, part-skim, shredded 1 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan cheese .5 cups Basil, Fresh (about 1 bunch, or 10 leaves) 1 serving Whole Wheat Lasagna Noodles (about 3 noodles)

Instructions:
Instructions:
Cook the noodles (3 noodles) in a large pot of boiling, salted water for 8 minutes, or until al dente. Drain from water and set aside to cool.

While noddles are cooking, slice eggplant lengthwise into 1/4 inch thick strips. Saute in cooking spray (Pam) until just softened and slightly brown.

Rinse basil leaves, remove stems, shred leaves gently by hand.

Light spray inside of a loaf pan baking dish with cooking spray.

Cut (with kitchen shears) 1 noodle into 3 sections, place on the bottom of the loaf pan. (NOTE: cutting the noodles is necessary to make them fit into a standard loaf pan. If you are using a square baking dish, cut only if needed to fit the dish you are using.)

Layer noodle with 1/2 cup of crushed tomatoes, 1 layer of the cooked eggplant, 1/3 cup mozzarella cheese, and 1/2 of the basil. Add another layer of noodles, 1/2 cup of crushed tomatoes, 1 layer of the cooked eggplant, 1/3 cup mozzarella cheese, and the other 1/2 of the basil. Finish with a final layer of noodles, last 1/3 cup of mozzarella, and sprinkle the Parmesan (or grated fresh Peccorino Romano) over the top.

Bake, uncovered, in a 400 degree oven for 40 minutes.

Enjoy!

I made this recipe in a loaf pan, planning on only 4 servings, but you could easily scale this up for more servings and use a larger baking dish. Cooking time would remain the same.

Nutrition Facts
Recipe Serves 4 people

Amount per Serving
Calories 163 Calories from Fat 64
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 6.91g	11%
Saturated Fat 4.25g	21%
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.06g
Cholesterol 1.25mg	0%
Sodium 293.75mg	12%
Potassium 181.13mg	5%
Total Carbohydrate 12.61g	4%
Dietary Fiber 3.11g	12%
Sugars 0.48g
Protein 11.95g	24%

Vitamin A	11.25
Vitamin C	8.38
Calcium	16
Iron	7.63
Vitamin E	0.21
Thiamin (B1)	5.03
Riboflavin (B2)	1.03
Niacin (B3)	3.14
Vitamin B6	3.94
Phosphorus	17.25
Magnesium	14.25
Panthothenic Acid	0.17
Zinc	1.22
Manganese	0.19

Est. Percent of Calories from:
Fat 38.2%
Carbs 30.9%
Protein 29.3%

Life Goals: Decade #3

I am a big one for making New Years Resolutions. Although I rarely keep them, there’s just something about marking the passing of time by acknowledging both what you are grateful for and also what you’d like to have more of in your life that I find irresistible. My resolutions are usually of the banal “lose weight” and the well-intentioned “learn how to_______” variety, with a “be more appreciative” thrown in for good measure. Only on the last one have I made any progress over the years!

Naturally, as I head into my 30th birthday coming up this summer, I’ve got lots of ideas percolating around about what I want to accomplish during my thirties. [Coincidentally, my friend Robin, blogging at There is More to My Life, wrote recently about her life goals, and I thought it was an opportune time to continue the theme.]

When I graduated from college, my life goals for my twenties were the simple, big ones: I wanted to have traveled, started a family, and be working towards a PhD. Easy, right? Well, I did manage to live abroad for 2 years, so I think I made a serious dent into #1. Obviously, the family is a check, a happy, blessed check. As for the last one, well, I can only barely give myself credit for it, as I’m finally taking a class this summer that is starting off the long, long path towards my PhD. Although, now that I pause to reflect, I did finish my master’s degree already, so what am I thinking? I deserve at least one quarter credit. 😉

I’m actually really excited about turning 30, probably in no small part because I’m so happy with my life. I really enjoyed my twenties, I got to do a lot of cool things, I met my wonderful husband (we’ll have been together over 5 years when I turn 30, which means that I spent more than half my twenties with him…wow!) and we had our sweet, darling babies that really are just the light of our lives…all in all, my twenties have been pretty good to me.

As for my goals for the next decade, I think they are a nice mix of the practical (hopefully attainable) and lofty (pie-in-the-sky). I do want to finish my PhD. I do want to have a career that is personally fulfilling and where I feel like I am making use of my unique qualities–that the path I find is one where I am called to really help improve the lives of others and leave the world, at least my small corner of it, a better place than I found it. I would love to channel my decades of on again-off again writing into an actual book that is published. I want to learn to bake bread and make yogurt. I want a real vegetable garden. I want to live healthfully–not so much for the vanity of losing weight and looking better, although I do have that vanity–but also because I want to be the mom who rides bikes with her kids and runs after them and gives them an appreciation for healthy foods and the wife who grows old with her husband. I also want to live healthfully for the world around us, and although I’m still figuring out exactly what that looks like, it’s so exciting to be living in a time where so much of the national–and international–dialog is about how to live in harmony with our place in the greater scheme of things.

What are your goals?

Dressing Up

Here are our little babes-in-togas! Are they the most darling little babies ever, dressed up in gramma’s old scarves and little hats. Er, wait. Yes, upon closer look I can confirm: Baby Bug is indeed wearing a pair of underpants on her head. Out of respect for the owner of the headgear, I will not divulge names. But, yes, they are clean underpants. What kind of family do you think we are?!

3 days, 21 hours, 17 minutes…

Since Recep left, and it’s actually both easier and harder than I thought it would be. Easier, probably because I’m staying at mom & dad’s house, so I haven’t had to do the single parent thing yet. I’ve had to do the wake-up-at-3:30-and-sleep-in-the-rocking-chair-with-crying-baby thing (oh, baby bug, you are 20 months old! Too old for nighttime wakings!), but at least I had good company.

Harder, though, to only talk to him for a few minutes every day. I’m used to us calling each other several times a day, and then spending all evening together. We don’t do things apart. Maybe that makes us weird, I don’t know–but we cook dinner together, we eat together, we put the kids to bed together, when I’m on the treadmill he’s about 3 feet away, working on his computer–and we’re talking the whole time. I find myself looking around for him when I’ve read something funny, wanting to share. I’m aggravated by the smallest things, because he’s not there to soothe things over or tell me to get a little perspective. Our cable isn’t working and I don’t know what to do. Yes, the cable–did you think this was only about my deep yearning for his company? It IS about that. It’s just also a little bit about the cable.

And, of course, with him gone so far away, there’s that nagging voice that pops up now and again. What if he doesn’t come back? Oh, I know, it’s crazy.  Really, I do know. But, don’t we all have those little voices sometimes? The ones that tell some of us we’re not pretty enough, or thin enough, or smart enough, or successful enough, or a good enough mother or good enough wife. Please, tell me I’m not the only one with the voices! Anyway, my voice du jour is, what if he likes being home so much that he doesn’t want to come back? It’s completely unimaginable, which is probably why it makes such a good fear for those inner voices (I’m sure Dr. Phil has a better name for it, but we’ll go with my nomenclature for now) to latch on to.

3 days, 21 hours, and 37 minutes since he left. Which leaves me with 16 days, 22 hours, and 23 minutes until he comes back!

Light Lemonade Pie

I was searching for a recipe for zucchini “spaghetti” and stumbled upon this recipe for Frozen Lemonade Pie. It sounded delicious, so I decided to put the ingredients in to my handy Weight Watchers points calculator to see how much damage I’d be doing…

Original Ingredients:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs (20 points)
1/4 cup sugar (4 points)
7 tablespoons butter, melted (21 points)
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk, chilled (33 points)
1 (12 ounce) container whipped topping, thawed (23.5 points)
1 (6 fluid ounce) can frozen lemonade concentrate, keep frozen (6 points)

Having 1 slice equal to about 1/8 of the pie gives you a whopping 13 points per serving! Way, way, way too many points for me. With a little re-working, I came up with this recipe:

1 (14 ounce) can fat-free sweetened condensed milk, chilled (22 points)
1 (12 ounce) container fat-free whipped topping, thawed (12 points)
1 (6 fluid ounce) can frozen lemonade concentrate, keep frozen (6 points)

Without the crust, and using fat-free versions of the condensed milk and whipped topping, brings the points total down to 5 per slice. Still a little high, but well within safe limits for a special treat.

Directions for how to make Breana’s Light Lemonade Pie:
Gently fold together the fat-free sweetened condensed milk and fat-free whipped topping. Slowly add frozen lemonade concentrate. Pour into 8 ramekins (individual serving dishes) and freeze overnight. Enjoy!

the departure

The departure for Turkey was, how can I put this…complete chaos. It’s a miracle they made the flight!

Their flight left at 5:45. So, we planning on being there at 3:45. Leaving our house no later than 3:00. At 2:00 Recep had one bag to pack–his carry-on. I thought we were fine. Oooooh no, was I ever wrong! He’s running around until nearly 3:00 doing last minute who-knows-what, and THEN tells us that we’re driving his aunt and uncle, too, which means we have to take the seat–with kid’s car seats–out  of the van, go get them, load them up…knowing how they are (perpetually late) I call over there at around 3 to tell them to be
ready in 5 minutes. Recep’s other aunt answers the phone and says “they aren’t packed yet.” After a couple minutes of my saying “Are you teasing me, and everyone is really all pack and standing there, laughing in the background?” I finally believe her, and tell her to tell them to get ready NOW.

At this point, I am starting to really panic. In the meantime, we are finally getting the van loaded up, the kids packed up in mom & dad’s car, and I have to empty the entire freezer (2 of those GIANT Ikea bags full!) because everything is starting to defrost, and I don’t want to have to throw away all that food. My parents take off, and we leave to go get everyone else. It’s about 3:15. We get there, and Recep starts to bring bags out.

It’s 3:30 and we still haven’t left yet. More bags coming out. (Everyone can take 2 bags to be checked, weighing 50 lbs or less, and 2 bags to be carried on, and they have ALL maxed out. Doing the math…that’s 8 GIANT suitcases and 16 carry-ons, plus a car seat and a stroller.) It’s after 4:00 before we finally get everyone in the car and we RACE to the airport. We pull up, everyone jumps out, I wave over one of the baggage guys with the big rolling carts, and…someone tells them to go away, that we don’t need help. So I went and got two of the little carts that you have to pay for with quarters instead, and tell Recep that if he wants to make the flight he has to RUN to go check in and get their tickets. Somehow they get all their luggage together and go, and since I didn’t hear otherwise, I assume that a miracle happened and they got on the flight. Update: Recep has safely landed in Turkey!

And I went home (well, to my parents’ house, as we have no electricity at home) and crashed.

Weight Loss Tracking

Let’s say you start out at X weight. And you want to get down to X-33 pounds (but would happily settle for X-28 pounds, really, and call yourself one lucky hot mom). What the best way to do it? Well, after 18 months of trial, I can conclude that systematically NOT engaging in any sort of exercise and NOT keeping track of what you eat does not work. There, I took one for the team, and now you all know that doing nothing does not equal magical weight loss.

So, although I’m sure there’s a billion different ways to do it, here are two that I am currently using…

Yes, the big Kahuna, Weight Watchers (WW). I’m doing this because my sister, my mom, and my dad are all doing it with me! It cost us about $60 for the first 3 months; I think it’s around $16 per month after that. We all really, really are liking using their online Points tracker system. It’s definitely gotten me to think more realistically about how much of something I can eat, and what I ought to just avoid because I don’t really like it enough to justify the Points.

The Daily Plate (DP) is a calorie-counting program (also tracks, fat, protein, and other things) rather than a Points-counting program, and so the process is a little more transparent than using WW. It’s also free, which will make a big difference over the long run!

The Basics

• Both programs let you search for foods from a variety of vendors, from various grocery stores to restaurants. In my, albeit limited, experience, DP might have a slight edge on the volume of different options in terms of specific brands of an item (like ice cream).
• Both sites also let you enter in your own recipes; WW then automatically calculates the Points value for the recipe, and DP the caloric and other nutritional information.
• Only DP lets you browse from foods and recipes added by other users–so, for instance, if your area has a specific mom & pop store that you always buy your ice cream from, if someone else in your area has already added that store into the system, then all you have to do is search for it. With WW you can only see their library of foods and recipes plus the specific item your personally have added. This is a major downfall for us, because if we (my parents, sister, and I) all eat something together, we have to each add the ingredients in separately. With DP, only one of us has to add it, and then the rest of us can search for it to add to our own counters.
• Both sites also have activity trackers, where you track all your exercise for the day. Again, DPs is slightly more robust and allows more options. For example my regular exercise is classified as “walking, on a treadmill, at 3 to 5 miles per hour”in the WW system, and I enter in the minutes and the system assigns a point value (1 point for 10-29 minutes, 2 for 30-49 minutes, 3 for 50-? minutes…that’s as high as I’ve ever gotten!). DP, on the other hand, lets you choose the exact speed (3.5 mph), minutes, and you have the option of entering the distance walked and your heart rate, and then it calculates calories burned. It’s just another layer of detail that may or may not really be necessary, depending on how detailed you like to track your progress!

One bonus to WW is that it’s easier to remember the Point value of something than the calorie count, and easier–for me at least–to keep in my head that I have 22 points to eat each day instead of 1250 calories. It all amounts to the same thing, but the math is easier! Another bonus for me is that you do have to pay for WW, so I am more apt to stick with it because I’ve already paid for it and don’t want to waste my money.

For me, I think I’ll stick with WW for the three-month trial period, by which time I should be at my goal weight anyway (fingers crossed), and then I’ll have to re-evaluate to see if I need to stay with WW or just switch over to DP, or if I’m confident that my eating habits have changed enough that I can just do it all in my head.

What are your great weight-loss plans?

Leaving On A Jet Plane

Yes, daddy is leaving us to go visit family in Turkey and go to his sister’s wedding. Leaving tomorrow and not returning for three weeks. 3 WEEKS. I don’t know what we’re going to do. I don’t know how the kids are going to handle it. Will they notice? (I ask only because when I went on some overnight trips when Kerem was 1 and 2, he never even asked for mommy!)

What will we do for 3 weeks???

Summertime! And the livin’ is….

Well, it’s just not so easy, is it? With gasoline hitting $4.00 a gallon, prices for everything from milk to rice creeping up and up–and home prices creeping ever further down…well, it’s no surprise that the only thing our yet-to-arrive economic stimulus check will stimulate is our credit card debt!

What are you not doing this summer?

We’re not going to my husband’s sister’s wedding in Turkey. We’re not looking into pre-school for our 3 year old. We’re not buying mother’s day/father’s day/birthday gifts for each other.

What we are doing is lots of gardening; I plant the flowers and they try to pick them. We always do lots of cooking, only now it’s more experimenting with fresh vegetables and making things from scratch and less boxed mixes of pumpkin bread and cakes. (My summer diet plans might have something to do with this as well!) Through a confluence of lucky timing, I started a new job only 2 miles from home, rather than 10 miles from home. Every little bit helps, right?

Weight Watchers: Day 20

“Day 20” sounds so much more impressive than “a little over 2 weeks,” doesn’t it? Or, is that just me?

Impressiveness aside, it’s actually going quite well. Allotting points is definitely helping me make better food choices and better portion choices (and isn’t that the whole point? *snicker*) and I haven’t yet felt terribly deprived. Probably because I’ve been sticking with my one big “luxury” of having two (or sometime more!) cups of tea a day. It’s been a long time since I had desserts regularly, and we never have kept many sweet or junky foods around, so not having chips, cookies, candy et cetera hasn’t bothered me a bit. My big sugar intake has always been tea: Three cups of tea with milk and sugar adds up to 6 points per day, which is a pretty sizable amount when you only have 22 points to eat for the day. I’ve slowly been switching out some of the sugar for Splenda, and right now I’m actually having a 0 points cup of tea (Splenda, no milk).

Obsessive tea drinking aside, I’ve so far lost 4.2 pounds. Which somehow is about 1.4 pounds per week. And while I’d love to be one of those people who loses like 5 pounds the first week and then 2 pounds a week after that, if I can keep trucking along at 1.4 pounds a week, I’ll be just fine!