Betty Freakin' Crocker

Who the heck am I?

In the past few weeks...I have made some of the most delicious edible creations ever in the history of all mankind. 

Such creations include:

1) Pioneer Woman's Meatloaf

2) Pioneer Woman's Mac & Cheese

3) Pioneer Woman's Potato Skins

4) Bakerella's Cake Pops

I have really been trying to lose weight here lately, so we have not been eating out as frequently. This has allowed me to get creative in the kitchen. I don't get to do very much during the week, but the weekend is when I get to make a huge mess and whip up something fancy. 

Even though I am really trying to watch what I eat, I have made all of the Pioneer Woman (aka P-Dub) recipes using the full-fat ingredients. You see, P-Dub is basically a skinny Paula Deen, and she freakin' loves butter and cream. What's that, you say? How can you be watching your weight AND eating butter and cream? 

Well, what I have come to learn is that if I make the recipe using the full-fat ingredients and don't sub in wimpy low-fat substitutes, I tend to not eat as much of the finished product. It is more filling, richer, and satisfies me more, which means I am not prone to go back for 2nds (unless it is that damn mac & cheese. HOLY CRAP)! 

I also find that if I eat what I am actually craving, I don't hunt around the kitchen afterwards looking for something else to fill me up. Snacking constantly really hurts me in the weight loss department. My actual meals are not that horrible...it's really all the junk in between that packs on the pounds.

I am far from an expert, but I am learning more and more each day how to listen to what I am actually needing and wanting, and how to make good decisions when it comes to food. 

Except for tonight. Nachos at Don Pablo's was a bad decision.

Good thing there's always tomorrow!

McFatty Monday (on a Wednesday...so sue me)

In my first official post for McFatty Monday, I wanted to start off with a bang.

First, I will tell you that I am going on week 4 without fast food. This is probably the longest I have ever gone, and I plan to go longer. I have to say that I don't really crave it. I find that I am craving other things that I have been eating at home. I also have really laid off my Diet Coke intake. I have had 1, maybe 2, large "gas station" Diet Cokes. I haven't been through a drive-thru because it is just a freaking trigger for me. Somehow, I mean to order a Diet Coke but then I mumble out "get me a hamburger, too" and it all goes to Hell. I try to limit myself to one can of Diet Coke per day. I figure 12 ounces is much better than 42.

I went through my blog and saw my pregnancy posts with Noelle. I have reasoned that I still look somewhere between 16 and 19 weeks pregnant. What I wouldn't give to look 12 weeks pregnant again! I am getting there. It is a process. I can't be too hard on myself.

I made a pretty healthy recipe on Thursday night. I got it from the Kraft Foods website. I made 90% lean beef hamburgers, put them on buns, and then topped them with pineapple, onions, and green onions. I also put a little BBQ sauce on mine. As a side, I made zucchini fries (oven baked). Not bad!

So, I will leave you with this.... a little progress report. Because I will never post my weight on here (unless I reach my goal), I have used percentages to show you my progress. Basically, my starting weight was last week. I want to weigh 85% of what I weighed last week (i.e. I want to lose 15% of my body weight). This week, I lost 1.3%. So, you can see where I have started, where I want to go, and where I am now.

Check ya next Monday!

The Super Epic Cake Pop Saga

I decided a few weeks ago that Noelle was going to have a bird themed 1st birthday. Not creepy black birds...but cute little whimsical birds.

I decided last weekend that I needed to find a way to make a bird-like Cake Pop (the Bakerella variety). How hard could it be??

Well...I took on the task, starting on Sunday. I thought it would be a simple thing to do. Not so much.

First, go to Bakerella's site and look at the main recipe. Then you can browse around at all the amazing cake pops she has made. Go ahead. But make sure you come back here! Bakerella's Red Velvet Cake Balls

So, I made the first batch-o-balls. They tasted great, but they were too big and they didn't stay on the sticks very well. When I dipped them in the chocolate, they were lumpy. I also made the mistake of letting them dry by sitting on a cookie sheet with waxed paper. This created a flat top on each cake pop. Yucky. But...like I said...they tasted great!

I harvested some advice from Facebook from people who have done this before, but they helped me get through some of my issues.

Here's a list to help you if you decide to do this. This second batch was a white cake with cream cheese frosting and then white candy melts dyed light yellow.

1. Make sure you have the right consistency of the cake mix and frosting. I really mixed it will and then let it kind of sit out for a little bit, which made it get a little tacky and rolled much easier.

2. Make the balls about the width of a quarter. Do not make the balls too big!!!

3. Dip the stick in a little bit of the candy melts first (about a 1/2"), and then stick them in the balls. This will help them stick.

4. Refrigerate (or freeze) for several hours.

5. Add a little oil to the candy melts to make it a little thinner so it doesn't tug on the cake ball and make it lumpy.

6. Make sure you put the candy melts in a deep enough cup so that you can fully dunk the cake ball.

7. Twist and tap the cake pop once it is coated, getting the excess off.

8. Stick the cake pops in a block of styrofoam so that they can dry standing up.

9. For the faces of my birds, I used some shaped sprinkles and some black frosting dye. I used the end of a pop stick to get some candy melt on the tip and then use it as glue for the beak and feet. I used the end of a pop stick to make the eyes, too. Granted, I haven't really figured out which face looks more like a bird. Some of these look like birds, some look like crazy clowns, others look like rabbits, and some look like hamsters. Meh. I will get better.

Praise the LORD I did not just decide to make these for the first time the weekend of Noelle's birthday! I would say you need to allow yourself at least a full day to get these made. They are time consuming, but if you put in the extra work, they look pretty cute!

The best part is that they taste as good as they look...or in my case, they taste better than they look!

This needs to happen.

How cute would Noelle look riding this thing? I think she should have needs it.

'Tis an art...

I love a good 4-letter word...really, I do. I think swearing is kind of fun, even though it is as unladylike and unintelligent-sounding as it gets. However, my favorite word these days is that of the 2-letter variety.

No.

I like saying it. No. No. No. No. Say it with me..."No!" See, don't you feel better?

I have always been a "Yes" girl. Yes, I will help you with that. Yes, I will be there in an hour. Yes, I will email that to you. Yes, I will be checking my professional email on the weekends. Yes, you can get it to me later. Yes, I have 100 things to do but I will make sure that I do what you need me to do first. Yes, you look pretty.

Sometimes, you just want to say no. 

But sometimes, you fear looking like a bitch (told you I liked swearing) in the process. You fear being disliked. You fear that you won't be needed. You fear that you are abandoning some responsibility you have to make everyone happy BUT you. 

I have found, however, that I am much less likable...much less fun...much less relaxed...and much more on edge, if I have been saying yes too much. 

So, I decided that I would try to say no more often, and so far, I have done it twice, and it has felt great and worked out swimmingly. Of course, upon the initial drop of the n-bomb, I faced some hesitation and some questioning. I felt the immediate need to justify myself and provide an excuse. However, I decided that in these cases, no excuse was necessary, and a simple, kind, calm, professional "no" would do the trick. 

We feel such a need to defend our actions. We feel such a need to provide little white lies as to why we couldn't make that dinner or why the document was late or why we just can't be at that wedding...but really, a simple truth of, "I just can't make it" will go a long way. No one wants to be lied to. No one wants to be given an excuse. I would much prefer honesty if the shoe was on the other foot. 

So, it really is an art to say no tactfully, with an assertive edge and a touch of sweetness...and I am learning. I am learning that it is OK to not be at everything, to do everything for everyone. I am learning that it is OK to want to just be home, to be with your husband and daughter, to be on your couch, sitting Indian style (...Native American style?...) with your laptop resting on your legs, just as I am right now, watching the trainwrecks on The Bachelor. I don't need to give an excuse. I don't need to lie. I don't need to deny myself the right to be relaxed and happy. 

No. Try it. 

McFatties Unite.

I love Heir to Blair. If you aren't familiar and totally in love with her blog, you need to get busy. I don't know how I discovered her, but I am so glad I did, because she so hilariously documents her triumphs and trials as a working mom. More seriously, she so bravely describes her battles with postpartum depression and the miscarriage she went through before giving birth to her son, Harrison. I literally laugh out loud at some of her posts, but then find myself tearing up and wanting to hold her hand in others. She is great, and I find her to be an inspiration.

Anywho...she does a weekly post called "McFatty Monday." She decided to chronicle her weight loss endeavors each Monday, starting with last January 4th. She managed to lose 35 pounds as a result, and she so bravely lists her actual weight and posts weekly pictures. I love this concept (and title), and I would like to "link up" to her McFatty Monday posts and share my struggles, too. I have made a commitment to abandon my fast food addiction, and I truly would like to drop this baby weight and then some. I have a rule that I must lose my baby weight and enjoy my success for a good three to six months before thinking about baby numero dos. So...here we go.

I made a cute little banner for the McFatty Monday link, and I hope to have as much success as Blair. P.S....that's not her real name. She's that cool.

Wait...another post!?

This is what a lazy Sunday will do for you. Ample time to think. Ample time to write. Ample time to eat. Sigh. Ample time to play with the best baby on Earth. Ample time to blog! Yippee!!!!

Just thought little miss Noelle deserved to be on this blog a little more...and what better way to do it than to post this picture? We have been trying to get her to take to a sippy cup for a couple of months now. Really, she will do it every now and then, but she is not showing much love toward the thing. BUT...I bought her this adorable little cup only because it had a bulldog on it...and it turns out that she loves sipping through a straw!

No worries. Orange substance in sippy was Pedialyte...not orange pop.