Changes

Lately, I have been making some changes in my life. Some far over due. I have had a person in my life that really has not added anything to it. Actually if I am being honest, they have really only been a negative. I made the decision to no longer have that person in my life. To say they didn't take it quietly would be an understatement. I tried to be nice about it at first. That didn't work. Next I moved on to being very blunt. When that didn't work I severed all ties de-friended on Facebook, added their number to my phone reject list and set my email to bounce everything they send to spam. I wish it had not come to that point but I feel good about my decision. Now I feel like I can move forward with my life. I sincerely hope that person does the same.

This week I am trying something new for my lunches. On most days I come home from work during my lunch hour. (One of the bonuses of living close to the office) I have been bad about planning ahead for my lunches so I usually end up having a sandwich or a can of soup. I saw something on Pinterest and decided to try it out: Mason jar salads. I bought some wide-mouth mason jars today and prepped 4 different types of salad. I have not tried them yet. I will let you know how they worked out.

I continued with my habit of prepping some dinners in advance for the week. This week I made Spinach lasagna rolls. Which turned out AWESOME! I included the recipe below. I did make a couple changes though. I used fresh spinach and boiled it rather than using frozen (I had fresh on hand I needed to use) and I also used a bottle of my favorite spaghetti sauce instead of plain tomato sauce. In the terms of difficulty, this was an easy recipe. The hardest part is filling noodles and rolling. And really that was not bad. I served this with a nice side salad and sprinkled some crushed red peppers on top of the roll before serving. I hope people enjoy this recipe as much as I did.

Spinach Lasagna Rolls

Servings: 9 • Serving Size: 1 roll • Points+: 6 ww pts
Calories: 224.9 • Fat: 5.1 g • Fiber: 3.4 g • Protein: 13.0 g • Carbs: 31.5

Ingredients:

• 9 lasagna noodles, cooked
• 10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and completely drained
• 15 oz fat free ricotta cheese (I like Polly-o)
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 egg
• salt and fresh pepper
• 32 oz tomato sauce
• 9 tbsp (about 3 oz) part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Combine spinach, ricotta, Parmesan, egg, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Ladle about 1 cup sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 12 baking dish.

Place a piece of wax paper on the counter and lay out lasagna noodles. Make sure noodles are dry. Take 1/3 cup of ricotta mixture and spread evenly over noodle. Roll carefully and place seam side down onto the baking dish. Repeat with remaining noodles.

Ladle sauce over the noodles in the baking dish and top each one with 1 tbsp mozzarella cheese. Put foil over baking dish and bake for 40 minutes, or until cheese melts. Makes 9 rolls.

To serve, ladle a little sauce on the plate and top with lasagna roll.

Food for thought

Have you ever felt as though food is your best friend and your worst enemy? How can a person manage to be thin when there is so much good food out there in the world? Pasta, hamburgers, pizza, cookies, cakes, candies, potatoes, the list are endless and restaurants are always coming up with new ways to keep us in their take out lines after work.

From experience, I know how easy it is to fall in a deeply imbedded food trap. I used to go to work where I would snack all day on various foods that were easily obtained from the kitchen. One cook had a crush on me and was always making me treats. After that I would then go home to more fast food or the freezer section of my grocery store. There have been times that I know my body was screaming for more nutrition. I was ignoring the screams. What are the screams, you wonder? I will explain… (Please forgive the gross-out factor): excessive flatulence, dehydration, dark urine, fatigue (low-energy), indigestion, heart burn, the list goes on and on. These are simply the symptoms!

Eating poorly for a good portion of your life can lead to high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, weak immune system, this list also goes on. These food issues are not unique to people with excess weight. Chances are, you know several people who are of moderate weight that eat horribly. I know I do! These people can be very frustrating to be around especially when their body does not seem to show signs of their bad habits! Truth be known, that these habits will probably creep up on them later on in life.

There have been points (currently and recently) in my life that I have had an over saturated palette. In order to taste good to me, my food needed to be drowning in grease, saturated in butter, rolled in sugar and heavily sprinkled with salt. I was suffering from the “but, it tastes good” syndrome which is one I am still trying to overcome. Eating well does not have to be a painful experience. You just have to be willing to put in the time and find recipes that taste good and are also good for you.

One of my 101 goals is to eat at home more often. This is due to many reasons. First and foremost it is healthier. You can control the portions and what goes into your food. Not only do I want to lose weight but I would like to eat cleaner. By this I mean use butter and not margarine, don’t use artificial sweeteners, etc. The more I hear about chemicals that are being put into our foods the more it scares me.

The second reason cooking at home is less expensive. Right now I really have to watch my money being unemployed. But even after I line up a job I am still going to have to watch my dollars (and make them stretch as far as possible.). I don’t know how much I will make (that depends on what firm hires me, or if I am in the public sector like a public defender or a prosecutor). Regardless of how much money I am bringing in, I have large student loans looming over my head. I would like to pay off my student loans as soon as possible and buy a home. (A girl has to save money where she can!)

As I try recipes I will post them and whether they are a success or a failure. I will give a few disclaimers. My food NEVER looks like the picture. Might taste awesome but doesn’t look as pretty. Another thing is I absolutely hate mushrooms so I will not be trying recipes that involve mushrooms. If the recipe does they will be judiciously left out or substituted for something that is not nasty.

If anyone has recipes they think are awesome feel free to share them with me. I am always open to suggestions. It might be awhile before I can really start testing recipes. It is hard to do things like that while living with my family. Fathead does not have an adventurous palate. Lol