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Main Dish Chicken, Strawberry, Spinach Salad

by 15 Comments

When it comes to eating dinner my man is kind of a manly man.  He likes “real food” like you’d see on the box of a Hungry Man dinner (Ewwww)! He likes to feel full and satisfied after one of his 12 hour work days and believe it or not, this pretty Spring salad with high protein ingredients like chicken, avocados, cheese and pecans is one that satisfies.

Main Dish Chicken, Strawberry, Spinach Salad

Category: diet, entertaining, Food, Recipes, Spring

Main Dish Chicken, Strawberry, Spinach Salad

Ingredients

  • Salad:
  • 6 C. fresh baby spinach
  • 2 large cooked chicken breasts, cubed
  • 1 pint strawberries, sliced
  • 1-2 avocados, cubed
  • 4 oz. crumbled gorgonzola or blue cheese
  • 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
  • 1/4 c. pecans, toasted and chopped
  • Poppyseed Dressing:
  • 1/2 cup avocado oil (or olive oil)
  • 3 T. apple cider vinegar
  • 2 T. honey
  • 1 T. poppy seeds
  • pinch of ground mustard
  • 1/2 t. salt
  • 1/4 t. pepper

Instructions

  • Toss all salad ingredients together.
  • Whisk dressing ingredients together, pour desired amount over salad, and toss until combined.
  • Serve immediately.
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We love eating lighter during the Spring and Summer months and hope that you’ll enjoy this recipe as much as we do!

Blessings,

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12’s Chicken Bacon Mac ‘n Cheese

by 22 Comments

Hi readers!  I’m so excited that the Seahawks have made it to the next round of the playoffs and are playing the Panthers in my home territory tomorrow.  I’ve been wearing my Seahawks colors proudly and plan to put my great BIG 12th man flag out in the front yard for the game tomorrow.  It will probably not even be noticed as this is more of a college ball town anyway. 

So here is the official Recipe of the Week for the Home of the 12s Facebook page.  This recipe is taken from Cooking Light Diet and goes along with my New Year’s resolution to lose a few pounds and get in shape. I don’t normally do a lot of recipes on this blog but have been kept hopping lately as the Seahawks just keep pushing on through.  Let’s hope that I’ll be back with more next week!

Chicken Bacon Mac ‘n Cheese

Category: diet, entertaining, Food, Football, Recipes

Servings: 6-8 servings

Chicken Bacon Mac ‘n Cheese

This recipe is taken from the Cooking Light Diet at www.diet.cookinglight/southernjan. It has all of the flavor of a high calorie dish, lightened up with fewer calories.

Ingredients

  • 6 oz. uncooked elbow macaroni
  • 3 cups prechopped broccoli florets
  • 3 bacon slices, chopped
  • 12 oz. skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
  • 1 tsp. kosher salt, divided
  • 1 Tbsp. minced fresh garlic
  • 1/8 tsp. ground turmeric
  • 1-1/4 cups 1% low-fat milk
  • 1 cup unsalted chicken stock (such as Swanson)
  • 1/4 cup plus 1 tsp. all-purpose flour
  • 5 oz. sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded (about 1-1/4 cups)

Instructions

  • Preheat broiler to high. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Add broccoli to pan during last 2 minutes of cooking. Drain.
  • Cook bacon in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, 4 minutes or until browned. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon, reserve 1-1/2 tsp. drippings in skillet. Sprinkle chicken with 1/4 tsp. salt. Cook chicken in hot drippings 4 minutes. Sprinkle with garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, 2 minutes. Sprinkle with turmeric; cook, stirring often, 30 seconds.
  • Whisk rogetehr milk, stock, four, and remaining salt; add to skillet. Bring to a boil, stirring often. Cook 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in pasta mixture and 2 oz. cheese. Top with bacon and remaining cheese. Broil 2 minutes.

Nutrition Facts

Chicken Bacon Mac ‘n Cheese

Serves 1-1/3 cups per serving

Amount Per Serving
Calories 343 calories
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 12.2g fat 18.8%
Saturated Fat 6.5g 32.5%
Trans Fat
Cholesterol 0
Sodium 647mg 27%
Total Carbohydrate 31g 10.3%
Dietary Fiber 2g 8%
Sugars
Protein 26g
Vitamin A Vitamin C
Calcium Iron

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Old Things New

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Seahawks vs. Panthers tomorrow.  What a game that will be!

Go Hawks!

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Mexican Chopped Salad

by 9 Comments

With the warmer weather, lighter dinners are the preferred meal around our house . . . especially as we try to whittle away a few pounds before donning shorts!

Mexican Chopped Salad 008

This main-dish salad has a great combination of tastes, sweet, tart, salty, with a bit of a bite.

Mexican Chopped Salad

Category: diet, Food, Health, Recipes, Summer Cooking

Mexican Chopped Salad

Serve with a loaf of fresh bread and enjoy. Muah!

Ingredients

  • 1 small package frozen corn, thawed
  • 4 cooked chicken breast halves, diced
  • 15 ounce can of pinto beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
  • 1/2 cup Spanish olives, sliced
  • 1/2 cup tomatoes, diced
  • 1 Granny Smith apple, diced
  • 1/4 cup pickled jalapenos, sliced
  • 2 T. chopped fresh cilantro
  • Dressing (directions for preparing dressing below): 2 T. olive oil, 1 tsp. ground cumin, 1/4 cup cider vinegar, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/8 tsp. pepper

Instructions

  • Spray frying pan with cooking spray and set over medium-high heat.
  • Place corn in hot pan and cook 3-5 minutes until slightly browned. Turn frequently. Remove and cool.
  • In large bowl toss corn, chicken, beans, cheese, olives, tomatoes, apple, jalapenos and cilantro.
  • For dressing: Heat oil over medium heat.
  • Add cumin and cook 1 minute to toast.
  • Remove from heat.
  • Whisk in vinegar.
  • Pour over salad and toss.
  • Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
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Mexican Chopped Salad 004

I’m still typing very slowly and very little as I TRY to rest the broken wrist. We are also still eating quickly prepared food because chopping is hard. Looking at my own pictures I can hardly wait to get back to spending a little more time in the kitchen and cooking THIS salad, as it really is delicious!

Blessings,

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Help! I’m Stuck in my Spanx . . . or . . . The Weirdest Post I’ve Ever Done!

by 42 Comments

This is not a typical post for me.  I usually write about my thrift store exploits, re-purposing old items or painting old furniture.  This post is about me trying to take this upper-side-of-fifty body of mine and turn back the cruel hands of time. Old Things New, right?
So, here’s the story.  I was out shopping with a friend the other day and I tried on this really cute green, loose weave summer sweater.  
The color was perfect, the fit not so much!  You see, along with the ageing process has come this stuff around my middle section that is beginning to make me look just like my mother.  Not that looking like my mother is a bad thing . . . just a little astonishing!  I’ve always been fortunate enough to be able to keep my weight down (good genes) and have had a “highest allowable weight” that I’ve kept myself too.  In recent months, the “highest allowable” has been exceeded.  Not by a lot mind you, but enough that my clothes aren’t fitting so well.  I  must now squeeze myself into my jeans . . . hold my breath while I zip them up and then stand in wonder at the inner tube rolling over the top!  Where in the world did that thing come from?  Since I really DO NOT want to start buying a bigger pant size I really need to do something about this problem.  So far I’ve just been wearing shirts with little sweaters that hide the roll, but summer has arrived and it’s getting warmer every day so that isn’t going to cut it for much longer.
So, I said to my shopping buddy, after trying on the sweater, “I love this sweater, even though it does kinda show off the rolls around my middle.”  
To which she responded, “You can always wear Spanx.”
Spanx!  That could be just the answer I was looking for!
  Dieting hasn’t been working too well (all the eating out while moving my in-laws), exercise hasn’t been too regular (I injured my heel during the move and it isn’t healing well), life has been really stressful (I NEED comfort food)!  Hmmm . . . does that sound a bit like I’m making excuses?
This just so happens to be my comfort food of choice.
Not only are they yummy but they have these nice little sayings inside.
 Give myself permission to do what? Continue out of control? Continue making excuses? Ugh!!!
So off I went to Target today to find some body slimming undergarments.  Before going any further I should tell you that this isn’t an ad for anyone’s slimwear.  If it was it would be pretty poor advertising as you’ll see by the time I’m finished.
Now Target didn’t actually have the Spanx brand of slimwear but they had a whole wall full of choices.  Upper body slimming, lower body slimming, whole body slimming, slimwear with and without bras . . .
I chose this little Maidenform number . . . obviously because of the picture of what I would look like when I put it on.
 I headed off to the dressing rooms and this is where my shopping trip went awry!  Have you ever tried on body slimming underwear?  OH  . . .MY  . . .GOODNESS!  I brought a small and a medium into the dressing room with me.  According to the tag I was a small but I quickly learned that a small was impossible to even get over head!  I didn’t THINK my head was that big!  Next I went with the medium.  After slipping each arm through the straps (by now I was beginning to sweat) I tried pulling the thing down over my body but it became all balled up and stuck across the top of by chest at the top of my armpits.  It had me in a vise grip!  I tried pulling it down.  I tried pulling it up.  It didn’t budge.  As the sweat began to pour down my body and make things slicker I happened to glance down at my toes and notice that they looked a bit purple.  Was it possible that this thing was cutting off my circulation?  
Okay, I told myself, “Just breathe.”  What were my options?  I could call 911 from the dressing room, I could call to the salesperson to  come in and scan the tag on my body so that I could pay for this thing, put my shirt on and go home (where I would cut it off ).  But since neither of those options would leave me with a shred of dignity (and I really don’t like to be embarrassed) I decided to take a deep breath and start over.  Instructions! Where were the instructions for getting into this garment?  Nope . . . no instructions!  Reaching my fingers beneath the tightly rolled up mess I began to tug down one little edge of fabric at a time and little by little, bit by bit it began to descend over my body, until finally, I was FREE!
Sooo . . . while in this new position of freedom I might as well put my shirt back on to see if these slimming things really work, right?  
My oh my . . . was I surprised! 
Not a bit of Pillsbury Doughboy, inner tubey, cinnamon rolly stuff hanging over the wasteband of my jeans!
Yureka! These things are great!
I bought two, one in black and one in beige.  On the way to the checkstand I did take the time to send off a quick text chastising my shopping buddy for not letting me know that this type of shopping trip is not meant to be a solo endeavor.  She sent me back a big LOL!
When Mr. OTN came home from work I asked him to take my picture in this little dress (one of my most unforgiving pieces of clothing).  Without asking any questions he obediently followed me out to the deck for a photo shoot.  I told him to make me look skinny and giggled.  No comment from Mr. OTN. Obviously he was too tired to notice my new svelte figure.
 Okay, so I may not be like the model on the Maidenform card but I find it incredible how much my tummy has shrunk!  Will I wear this every day?  Absolutely NOT!  “Why not?”,  you ask?
1.  It is exhausting to get on.
2.  It has to be unhooked and rehooked when you use the bathroom.
3.  It is giving me a little bit of a backache.  I wonder if corsets felt like this?
4.  I really DO need to get back on a healthy eating and exercise regimen.
5.  I’m not looking forward to going upstairs to get my jammies on because I have to find a way to get out of this thing. Oyyyy!
I will however enjoy wearing this for special occasions and to reign my tummy in (until I lose some of the excess around the middle) so that I can wear my cute new green sweater.
Blessed is he who has learned to laugh at himself,  for he shall never cease to be entertained ~ John Powell
    Blessings,
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