Making Choices

Hey y'all. Americans made choices yesterday but in order to stay in my food wheelhouse and keep positive, I won't be talking about those choices here. At least for my post today, I'm going to distract myself from the things happening in the nation and talk about food...which is really one of the only things I know how to do. After not weighing for a couple weeks I really didn't see much change on the scale this morning. I don't know the exact number because I totally forgot to weigh when I woke up and got completely dressed. Seeing as how I'm usually in my birthday suit when I step on the scale, I figure my clothes added about a pound or maybe less which means I've seen no change. I'm grateful for that. This week, I'm going to practice trusting myself, going easy on myself mentally and not worrying so much. There are way more important things in life than my jiggly arms.

I may indulge too much on the weekends but I can say I've made some good choices the past couple weeks that tell me I know how to eat healthy, I just don't always choose to do so. Ian and I saw Dr. Strange in the theatre and I am someone who loves to have popcorn in a movie. He wanted popcorn too but wanted butter so what I did was order a large popcorn and then asked the cashier for an empty kid's popcorn bag. She obliged. I filled the kid's bag up with unbuttered popcorn and then Ian was free to drench it in buttery goodness as much as he wanted. This worked out great. It was a perfect portion and I still got to have popcorn. Between me and you, I also snuck in some leftover Halloween candy.

Last night, I didn't make all good choices but I threw together a steak dinner (with help from Ian because he gets grumpy when I don't give him credit) for election night. We weren't sure what would happen but it felt like a night we should have steak. I'm glad we did. It was delicious. I will say that I cut most of the fat off my giant steak which felt like a victory. The potatoes were easy and delicious. The last time I went shopping, I wanted a couple potatoes in case I wanted to bake them. It occurred to me that I could buy like 2 potatoes or pay $2 extra bucks and get a bajillion potatoes. I went with the huge bag because I'm always trying to get the most out of my money. The problem is, there's only two people in my house and one of them is fine with living on Taco Bell and artificial macaroni and cheese the rest of his life. So, getting through these potatoes will be a challenge. I decided to make baked fries. I didn't look at a recipe and they still turned out good which means I'm starting to get the skills my mother has when it comes to throwing meals together. I cut the potatoes into french fry shapes, added them to a glass bowl with some water and popped them in the microwave for about 5 minutes. You don't have to do this if you have a lot of time. I was starving and wanted to eat in the next century. Potatoes take forever to cook so I took a shortcut. When they were done in the microwave, I drained the water. I added about a teaspoon of olive oil. I didn't want to overdo it as I was TRYING to make them a decent option. I then added a couple tablespoons of light butter spread. Then I added garlic, salt, pepper and a little parmesan cheese (the kind in a green can. Ian loves it). Then I just baked them about 20 minutes. When they were cooked through, I broiled them for a few minutes to get more crispy. They probably could have been in there even longer. When they were finished, I added a bit of shaved parmesan to the top because I love that dang stuff. They made a nice compliment to the steak. They had a ton of flavor and they weren't deep fried. A little oil and parmesan goes a long way. Not necessarily healthy but not not healthy either.

Finally, I wanted to show you something that my mom told me about and that I highly recommend. When I first started Weight Watchers, I ate so many frozen "healthy" meals that I got sick of them. I haven't really even looked in that area of the freezer section in years. My mom told me that Lean Cuisine makes a Vermont White Cheddar Macaroni and Cheese that I needed to try. We are a family of mac and cheese snobs so I trusted her opinion. I am so glad this exists. It's the best product they've put out in awhile. It's perfect for a weeknight. You don't have to make mac and cheese and you aren't tempted to eat the whole pan. It's one portion and it's not a dinky portion. It's delicious and a perfect side dish. I highly recommend it. 

Ian and I saw Ingrid Michaelson Monday and it was amazing. I love her. I also took a picture of a tire in my backyard that I used to think was an eyesore and now kind of like. Here's to loving life, each other and making good choices.