Birthdays & Budgets

Hey y'all! I want to first take a moment to wish an early HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Cassandra!  She will officially be in the 30 club on Sunday.  I hope you have an amazing birthday, birthday week, birthday month.  You deserve it!  I had a great time this weekend.  I also wanted to tell my friend Lauren Happy Birthday as well as hers is on Wednesday! Jordan and I got to see Shania in Nashville and then Ian and I got together with some of his extended family and then we saw Phish in T-Town last night.  Overall, it was an awesome weekend.  I didn't weigh because I'm still waiting a few weeks but I had the best dieting week I've had in a LONG time last week.  I am so proud of myself.  I followed my rules, had room for fun but didn't take it too far.  I am hoping to have another great week.  I am feeling pretty motivated right now, more so than I have in awhile so I hope that's a good sign.  As always, it's a process.

I love making pizzas out of the Flat Out flat bread.  It's only 90 calories and makes a sizable pizza.  This time, I made a Greek inspired pizza with steak strips, Greek olives, mozzarella cheese and I used hummus at the base.  This was totally delicious! The best part was, depending on how much cheese you use, you can make it for 400-500 calories and your belly is full when you're done.  The flat breads have a diet-y taste to them but once you add a lot of flavor, they are totally worth it.

I only get paid once a month now and it has taken some getting used to.  The week before I get paid is usually one that is fairly destitute.  I was pulling all kinds of random ingredients out of the pantry.  I think I've shared potato cakes before but I added some kick to them this time.  This is so easy! All I do is take the pre-made cups of mashed potatoes.  I prepare them in the microwave per the instructions.  Then, I added some pizza seasoning and a bit of low fat mozzarella cheese.  I take a spoon and scoop out little blobs of the potatoes in a hot skillet that I've sprayed with butter flavored non-stick spray.  This takes these plain potatoes and totally kicks them up a notch.  The smaller the cake the better so it can crisp up but this was definitely a nice use of the very few groceries I had left.

Again, I had a nice time this weekend going to shows and spending time with friends.

I hope you all have a great week!

Until next time...