Perhaps my summer vacation blog posts are officially overdue now?

The leaves just BARELY started turning a week or two ago!

Snow today! Just a couple of miles away. We could practically reach out and touch it if not for those pesky Kennecott Copper Mine security guards.

Summer vacation details coming soon......

Peach Glazed Salmon, Orange Scented Brown and Wild Rice Blend, Steamed Green Beans *

I kind of made this one up on the fly with ideas in my head from recipes past and a goal to use up some peach jam. It turned out GREAT and we'll be having it again very soon.
*To be less than $10 you will have to find a great sale on salmon. But it's worth the extra cost if you can't wait for the sale. :)

Peach Glazed Salmon, Orange Scented Brown and Wild Rice Blend and Steamed Green Beans

Makes 4 servings
11 points per serving
Approximate cost for this meal: Varies greatly depending on the current price of salmon. I like to buy the 3lb bag of individually frozen fillets at Sam's Club. The bag costs $21 which is $7 per lb. You might catch it on sale for cheaper but I like the convenience of individual wrapped fillets so I can thaw only as many as I need.

You'll need:
4 - 6 ounce fillets of salmon, rinsed and patted dry with paper towels
1/3 cup peach jam
3 Tablespoons Sweet chili sauce
I used THIS.
1 teaspoon seasoned rice vinegar
pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)

3 cups cooked brown and wild rice blend
1 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
juice and zest of 1/2 an orange

4 cups fresh green beans, cleaned and cut to 1 inch lengths

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Spray a small baking sheet with non stick cooking spray.

In a small bowl combine the peach jam, chili sauce, rice vinegar and pepper flakes (if using). Mix well.
Place salmon fillets on baking sheet. Spread the peach jam mixture evenly atop the salmon fillets.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until salmon flakes easily with a fork.

Meanwhile, cover the green beans with salted water, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer over low heat. They should be crisp tender right about the time the salmon finishes.

While the salmon and beans cook:
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil until the onion is translucent and soft. Stir in the cooked rice and the orange juice and zest. Cook and stir 2-3 minutes or until rice is heated through. Cover the pan and remove from the heat.

Drain green beans and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Each serving is 1 piece of salmon, 3/4 cup rice and 1 cup cooked green beans

What we thought:
We all loved this meal! Jaxon didn't eat a whole serving and it was very hard for me to resist finishing his. I might add, it didn't take long for someone else in the house to raid his leftovers from the refrigerator. Less than 24 hours, I'd say.
We have managed to somehow make fish lovers out of the youngest three kids. It was hit and miss with the older ones. LOL
The salmon was delicious with the sweet and spicy glaze. The rice vinegar keeps the glaze from being overly sweet. I always think that rice is a perfect match for fish. It was especially nice to be able to use some leftover rice and give it some new zing with the orange flavors which happened to complement the glaze on the fish quite well.
This meal came together very quickly too. That's a big plus on busy nights.

I'm alive and well...

My theme song for this day of greatly reduced back pain! Hooray!

So damn easy to say that life’s so hard
Everybody’s got their share of battle scars
As for me I’d like to thank my lucky stars
That I’m alive and well
It’d be easy to add up all the pain
And all the dreams you’ve sat and watch go up in flames
Dwell on the wreckage as it smolders in the rain
But not me… I’m alive

And today you know that’s good enough for me
Breathing in and out’s a blessing can’t you see
Today’s the first day of the rest of my life
And I’m alive and well
I’m alive and well

Stars are dancin’ on the water here tonight
It’s good for the soul when there’s not a soul in sight
This motor’s caught its wind and brought me back to life
Now I’m alive and well

And today you know that’s good enough for me
Breathing in and out’s a blessing can’t you see
Today’s the first day of the rest of my life
Now I’m alive and well
Yeah I’m alive and well

Maintenance - Week 1

My weight this morning: 143.2

This is .2 above my ideal window of 140-143.
I've had a week of practically zero movement because of my back pain.
And I ate without a care about points at Oktoberfest yesterday.
So, this .2 gain makes sense to me.
I'm sure I'll get back to my maintenance zone by next weigh in on Sunday.

Today In My Life

We had a nice start to the weekend today! My back is feeling a lot better now. Still not 100%. Maybe 75%. But well enough to feel like getting out with the aid of my friends, Valium and TENS. LOL
My super cool friend and neighbor, Lori, hooked us up with a great deal on some red potatoes! 25 pounds for $7.50. Can't beat that! I have no idea where she got such a great deal. I was afraid to ask. She might have to kill me if she told me. So we'll just quietly go about the business of enjoying some delicious red potatoes and you can all just be uber jealous. okay? okay!

Today was the pick up day for the September Community Supported Agriculture coop. We are as pleased this month as last. What a great way to support local farmers and companies!
We got the Nutty Guys sampler. Local products. Super yummy! The bag of cashews alone would sell for nearly $6 in the grocery store but we got cashews, trail mix, golden raisins and peanuts all for only $10.

We ordered the Harvest Share again. $14. This month that included 5 gala apples, 5 Brigham City peaches (no secret how much I LOVE those!), 5 Utah pears, 5lb bag of organic red potatoes, 2 organic Utah acorn squash, 3 organic Utah green bell peppers, 6 organic Utah sweet corn, 5 Utah tomatoes, 3 pomegranates (I must admit though that these are the tiniest pomegranates I've ever seen. LOL) Almost forgot! We also got one loaf of artisan wheat bread and a pound of brown rice.
We also ordered the Farmer's Market share, all organic. $13.50 This month that included a spaghetti squash, 3 large potatoes, 5 tomatoes, 2 onions, 1 acorn squash, 1 yellow pepper, 1 red pepper and an unidentified herb. Anybody know what that is? LOL

Can't wait to make some yummy meals with all this healthy stuff this week.
After we grabbed our CSA pick up and put away the perishables we loaded up Emily and Jaxon and headed for the mountains! Oktoberfest is going on up at Snowbird. The weather was lovely! About 70 degrees with a nice little breeze.

We had some good food! Emily even managed to have an adventurous attitude about trying new foods. And there wasn't really anything she didn't like. We had Paprika Chicken, German Potato Salad, Saurkruat, Chicken and Apple Sausages and Apfelstrudel. In the end, she and Jaxon were most excited about the German Chocolate Cake though.
I also employed my sense of adventure and tried some BEER! After all these years I finally had a beer I liked! All it took was a brew which involves chocolate malt. Ha! How could that be bad?!
I wonder how hard it will be to find Uinta Oktoberfest Black Bier when it isn't actually Oktoberfest anymore?
We enjoyed the German song and dance performances while we ate.

We spent a little time watching the 1996 yo-yo champion do his thing. That was fun.
And then Emily and Jaxon spent some time at Kinderland. Bounce houses, slides and wild, energetic playtime.



We spent some time at Der Marktplatz. Checking out the wares of local craftsman. Emily got a great crocheted rainbow colored hat that drew many compliments. Jaxon got a new pillow for his bed with a very special Disney Cars pillowcase.
I was drawn to a handmade jewelry booth. This bracelet seemed to call out to me and I went back two or three times to consider buying it.


Finally the woman who made the jewelry took my hand and said that it was the Blue Lace Agate stones on the bracelet that I really needed. She said she could sense that I've had some tension and unrest lately and that the blue lace agate is a calming stone that helps us to speak and think on a rational plane. Also that the amethyst stones would help to balance thoughts. Hocus pocus or devine intervention? You decide. But the fact is that I try to live my life drama free but sometimes drama finds it's way in anyway when I least expect it. So I bought the bracelet. And I'll wear it for serenity. I think it's helping already. ;)
I also bought a necklace for my friend for Christmas. It promises to bring all the good and healing things I could wish for her. Shh...it's a secret. Don't tell her.
My back finally had had enough and we made the long trek back to the truck and headed for home.
I'll leave you with a few pics we took on our way out. What a beautiful part of the planet we are blessed to call home, huh?

This and That

~It's been a long and painful week. My back mysteriously staged a revolt against me and I've been to the chiropractor every day this week. My current best friend is a little machine that delivers electric shock to my lower back, for 60 minutes on and 20 minutes off, all day long. It's a LOT more pleasant than it sounds. Today I am feeling about 50% which is a marked improvement over the rest of the week.

~Because I have been out of commission this week, the house is a wreck and the meal plan is non-existent. We have all been eating whatever we can easily access. Which means...

~My weight has gone back up a tad. Only a pound. No biggie. I might even be able to eliminate it by Sunday's weigh in.

~Tomorrow is the September CSA pick up. Can't wait to see what yummy fresh produce we'll get! We sure need it to get back on track with some healthy home cooked meals.

~I did manage to stand upright long enough to attend Roger's awards dinner with him last night. 15 years of hard work at this job. I'm so proud of him. He works hard for our family and provides well for us. There aren't enough words to tell him how much I appreciate him.

~Looking forward to a nice night at home tonight. Watching last night's Gray's Anatomy (YAY for a new season of our favorite shows! Finally!) and maybe a movie and a nice glass of wine.

Week 32 Weigh In ~ GOAL!!~

I'm down .8 of a pound this week!




And I have decided that I am done losing!
I'm going to transition to maintenance now and continue working on toning up and staying healthy.
I don't think I have ever posted the actual numbers here on my blog.
I started WW on Feb 8, 2009 weighing in at 186.2 pounds which was an all time high for me.
This morning, 32 weeks later, I weigh 142.2 pounds.
I will keep my weight in the 140-143 range from now on.
Several years ago I weighed 140 and wore a size 8 in jeans. I felt pretty good right there.
I think that as I have gotten older I have lost some lean muscle mass and I am wearing size 6 jeans very comfortably now at a slightly higher weight. I think that if I get any smaller it will not look healthy on my frame.
So, my weight loss journey is over.
And my maintenance and long, healthy life journey begins today!
My goal was to be "Fit By 40" which will be in 7 weeks. My birthday present to myself will be a complete physical to make sure I am in the best health that I can be in.
Thanks to all my WW buddies! Your encouragement and support made it possible!

WW friendly food and a good deal! Woohooo!!!

I first heard about this deal on Pinchingyourpennies.com a couple of weeks ago.
I LOVE Sconecutter!!!!
If you go to THIS LINK you can get three $10 gift certificates ($30 value) for only $15.
I ordered them one day, received them the next and used them within the week. LOL
I happen to know that one Turkey avocado pita (with lettuce, tomato, onion and sprouts) costs $4.95 with tax and is 7 or 8 points. I always think I'll come home and weigh the avocado so I can nail the exact points value down but somehow I never make it home with the pita. :P
Enjoy!

Week 31 Weigh In

Down 1.4 pounds this week. Too bad I couldn't just go with yesterday's weight. I'd be reporting a 3.4 pound loss. Oh well, considering I pretty much took all of yesterday completely off from making good food choices, I'm happy with this.
I'm only 3 pounds and 8 weeks from my "Fit by 40" goal. :)

This and That

~We went to Fruit way again this morning. Happy, happy!!!
We got another 1/2 bushel of peaches. Hale variety this time. We'll just eat all of these. If they start to get over ripe I'll peel and freeze them. I'm just not a huge fan of canned peaches.
12 pints of blueberries. $1 per pint. Nice! I'll freeze these too.
10 zucchini
watermelon
cherries STILL 79 cents per pound. WOW!
2 eggplant
Anaheim and Santa Fe peppers
red onions
yams
red creamer potatoes
green beans
limes
pluots
and 2 half bushels of tomatoes.

~I've never had great luck canning salsa. It always gets too runny. I prefer thick chunky salsa. I got this possibly crazy idea that I could can the tomatoes and then when we want salsa I'll just chop them up and add fresh chopped onion, peppers, cilantro and garlic. If I'm right, that will result in a fresher flavored salsa, with the benefit of home grown tomato flavor, even in the dead of winter.
That's the plan anyway. I'll let you know how it goes.

~I had a major migraine when I woke up yesterday morning. It lasted all day long and into this morning when I finally surrendered and took my last Imitrex. Migraines, complete with nausea, are aparently good for the diet because I woke up this morning just ONE pound away from my goal weight. After the Imitrex knocked out the migraine my appetite came roaring back to life. So we ate lunch at a cute little diner near the fruit stands. Without apology I ate a Bacon Blue Cheese Burger. AND fries. LOL I hope my weigh in goes well tomorrow. :P

~Some Jaxon funny.
Facebook friends have already heard this one. Sorry for the repeat I just need to get it down here for the record. Because someday I really AM going to have the family stuff printed in book form.
So, I'm busy doing my thing in the kitchen last week and Jaxon is playing nearby. Suddenly I hear a big thud followed by a cry of pain. I think that Jaxon has shut his fingers in the drawers. Because heaven knows that happens fairly often.
But no, I turn to tend to him just in time to see him pull the kitchen towel off of his head and face.
He had been running around like a crazy person with the towel over his face and ran right into the sharp pointed corner of the counter top.
There was a little puncture wound on his forehead. I grab a towel and reach for the faucet to get it wet while trying to keep him from touching the wound but his hand slips free and he touches his forehead. Then, upon seeing the blood on his hand, he declares, "I died."
Thinking that he had died didn't seem to cause him any additional distress though.
Is that good or bad? I'm thinking a healthy fear of death might be a good thing for a little kid to have. LOL
He got over it pretty quickly and posed for a picture.

Meal Plan

We are planning another trip on Saturday to Fruitway to rake in some fresh fruits and veggies!
And the stores in our area are having their case lot sales which I really need to take advantage of.
Also, I need to pay for another CSA/coop order which we will pick up 2 weeks from now.
It's an addiction!!!

Soo....I'm asking a lot of our $250 every two weeks grocery budget but I think I can swing it.
Here's the meal plan with wiggle room to accommodate all the great produce we'll be buying on Saturday.

Breakfasts and lunches- same as last week. It's working well!

Dinners
~Dinner party with our dear friends to celebrate their 21st Wedding Anniversary. How cool is that?
~Family dinner-Quesadilla Casserole, Salad and Fresh Fruit
~Date night for us, Frozen dinners or leftovers for the kids
~Georgia Peach Chicken Sandwiches, fresh fruit, Sweet Potato Oven fries.
~Grilled pork chops, Stuffed Blue Hubbard Squash, vegetable
~Peach Glazed Salmon, veggie, starch
~Bowties with Butternut Squash and Sage, Salad

Ten to Six!

September 6

April 24

No makeup, poor pic quality, red eye. I know. Sorry!
But still, how cool is that?!?! woohooo! I don't remember ever being a size six before!

Week 30 Weigh In

Down 2.6 pounds this week! WOOHOOO!!!
And another 1 1/2 inches.
The size 6 jeans that were obscenely tight a few weeks ago fit like a g~l~o~v~e now.
I'm a happy girl today. (Even if I did weigh .4 less a couple of times this week. Grr! LOL)

Meal Plan

I've been spending money like a crack addict on fresh produce. I might need a 12 step program or something.
So this week's menu is based on items we have on hand and I should be able to spend only about $30 on groceries tomorrow.
I'll continue with the home cooked breakfasts and cold lunches for school.

Dinners
~Spaghetti, Salad and Bread for the family dinner on Sunday.
~Minestrone, Bread
~Black bean tacos, Rice
~Fish tacos, Rice
~Quesadilla Casserole, Salad
~Lima Beans, Corn bread
~Smoked Turkey Sausage and pasta, Salad

I think the vegetarian meals we had last week helped me drop weight a little faster so I'm going to continue that trend. :) And Roger even says he is fine with it. Mostly.

Peach Butter - YUM!!!

Remember the peck of jamming peaches we bought on Saturday? I decided to make peach butter instead since we still have some peach jam in food storage.
I found this recipe to do it in the crock pot. Which is convenient because you don't have to keep a constant watch on it to prevent it from sticking or burning. It turned out GREAT and made the whole house smell heavenly for a solid 24 hours. Who needs Scentsy, huh?
I used that link as a jumping off point and then made my own changes cause I'm a rebel that way. And because I wanted less sugar for the sake of my backside.
Here's what I came up with.

Peach Butter

1 peck of peaches, peeled, pitted and pureed
(resulted in 5 quarts of pureed peaches)
1 pound of honey
1 cup of Splenda
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Place all ingredients in 6 quart slow cooker. Mix well. Put lid on sideways or suspended on two wooden spoons like this...
You want the moisture to be able to evaporate.
Cook on high for about 24 hours or until reduced by half, stirring occasionally.
This step is crucial:
Close eyes and inhale D~E~E~P~L~Y every 10 minutes or so throughout the 24 hours.

Now the peach butter should be nice and thick and if you put a teaspoon of it on a plate and wait a minute there should be very little, if any, liquid seeping around the edges of the peach butter.

At this point you could just eat it with a big spoon and a whole loaf of bread while no one is home to witness it.
Or you could exercise some self control and can it using a water bath canner.
This recipe yielded 11 half pints.
Just for kicks I put it in the recipe builder on the WW website and to the best of my calculations there is 1 point in 2 Tablespoons of this peach butter.
A little tart, a little sweet, a super nice thing to do to a piece of toast!