Open Face tuna melt

 I love fish good thing it is good for me
This is my open face tuna melt
one thing I have found with "diet" food is it tends to be dry
I have to remove fat so I replaced it with some good fats and
veggies and a small amount of cheese
To make this I use
1 packet of Albacore tuna

1TBS plain Greek Yogurt
1oz (yes I weighed it) Colby or Cheddar cheese
1 Roma Tomato diced
roughly 10 leaves of spinach (or more I started out with less)
1/2 a mashed avocado
diced onion
1 whole wheat tortilla (I use chichis multi grain)

open your tuna packet and rinse it with water (this decreases the salt a bit)
in a bowl combine the yogurt and avocado and tuna
spread the green goo(yes it looks gross) on your tortilla
stick it in the oven (350 degrees) for a few minutes while you dice things
add the vegetables stick it back in the oven till it warms up
then add the cheese
and melt it

I use the My Fitness Pal websites nutrition calculator to enter the ingredients to figure out nutrition facts for the various things I eat here is what My Fitness Pal says the nutrition facts are:
Calories 394
Carbs       31
Fat           19
Protein     28
Sodium  515
Sugar         3

These facts are for this meal with Cheddar cheese with colby it is a wee bit less in calories

Healthy Fettuchini Alfredo made with Cauliflower

This recipe has been making the rounds of Pinterest for a while , I am not a fan of vegetables unless they are deep fried and even then I prefer cheese , however Garlic hides a multitude of sins and in my veggie hater opinion this was not too bad. I did not add salt like the recipe calls for I think a pinch of salt would have made it better and taken away that sweet flavor that cauliflower has.

Healthy Fettucini Alfredo

Along with this I made diced chicken and regular alfredo noodles,

I altered the recipe a wee bit because I did not have vegetable broth so I used unsalted Chicken Stock  and I am out of real butter so I used Smart Balance with Flax
The verdict
QT ate 2 bowls full of it
I ate my plate it was not horrific the sauce is a bit sweet but as a vegetable hater it was not awful
Dave really liked it
Zach said it was OK
Alex said MMMMMM (mouth full of food)
Tim said it does not taste like cheese
"There is no cheese in it buddy"
"but but mom... Cheese ...this is weird it is flavorless"
"boy go put Parmesan on it" and there was a dust cloud of Tim going into the kitchen to get cheese
Nik said "it tastes like Nana's clam chowder"

I asked should I make it again?
majority vote says yes

OK the health stuff
we figure this makes about 12, 1 cup servings of sauce
Calories 68g
Carbs 9g
Fat  3g
Protein 5g
Sodium 174mg
Sugar 3g

THAT is just for the sauce that does not count the chicken or the noodles
remember a serving of chicken is 3 oz and a serving of noodles is 1 cup
and yes that picture is my plate and that is a serving I just spread it out on my plate to make it pretty
I also added one TBS of Parmesan cheese to the top of my food

Yes I will make this again for a large family this was a VERY inexpensive dinner we found chicken breasts on sale at a local store and  cauliflower was 99 cents a head on sale at another store
besides you cannot beat 68 calories for a creamy sauce

Recipe :Tuscan Bread

I love bread
I know everyone says that but I REALLY love bread
I love store bought
I love homemade
I love to make my own
being diagnosed with diabetes / high blood pressure killed that
and I was all

THEN I remembered something I have the power of google at my fingertips
so I did a search
I found out several things
first bread kinda requires salt it is a big sciency baking thing where he salt reacts with the yeast and the glutens in the flour to do the rising thingie

and I found Tuscan Bread
ahhh Tuscany I love you
Here is the link where I found it :
Tuscan Bread

Later this week I plan on making this bread so when I do I will do a video of the process
it is not difficult to make homemade bread if I can do it you can too
no bread machine needed
I do this one by hand
this recipe makes 30 pieces of bread(I did not make round loaves I made french bread like loaves)
here are the health details of the recipe

This is according to the My Fitness Pal recipe maker thing

Calories 67
Carbs 15
Fat 0
Protein 2
Sodium 0
Sugar 0

that is for one piece of homemade deliciousness
I need to double and triple check that however all that goes into this recipe is
white flour
water
and
yeast

This kind of bread is a crusty rustic thing that is used for soaking up rich sauces
I use it when I make soup
and I butter it
with Smart Balance "butter" or a little bit of real butter
I also add herbs to it like Mrs Dash garlic and herb blend
This would also make a great bread for those fancy olive oil herb dips
this bread would make great bread sticks
Stay tuned later in the week for the video
OK here is the worlds worst cooking videos the first one is the steps in making the sponge

I will upload the next step later
It is later!

and yes there are lots of videos on this because I am not a production company
This next one is me kneading the bread do I do it strange? yes ! do I care? no

 

and I have no idea what this next one is

I think it is me spraying the bowl with oil you really want one of those oil sprayers 

they are great!

 

An hour has past and the bread has risen and QT has also attacked the dough ball

 

This is getting the dough ball ready for the oven  

Spraying water on the bread while in the oven it does something good to the crust read the more specific directions on the recipe link I just do what that tells me

 

My last very articulate description of the bread "so um yeah"

Background

HI again
This is my why post
It gives you some background on me and my journey so far
Lets get the nitty gritty done with first
I'm 43 female Caucasian American of Irish/random European descent 
I'm 5 foot 2inches tall
I have never in my adult life been at an ideal weight for my height
the last time I was at an ideal weight I was 16 and I was 132lbs at the high end of ideal for my height
I am the mother of 5 boys
Alex age 20
Tim Age18
Zach age 14
Nik age 9
and
QT age 6
I have been married to my hubs Dave (age 40) forever (together 21 years married 18)
I have had 3 cesarian sections
2 VBACS
My family history is full of Cancers smokers emphysema diabetes and vascular disorders
My mother died when she was 47 of an Aneurysm
My Dad died when he was 64 from pancreatic cancer after being type 2 diabetic for over 5 years

NOW when I say I have never been my ideal weight I'm not kidding
I have been considered morbidly obese for years
The highest I have ever weighed was around 270 ish
I usually can bounce between 240 -250 and 200
depends on pregnancy stress and how carefully I'm watching things
is this healthy
HELL NO
I'm not stupid I know it is not healthy
did that change things?
HELL NO
why?
I love food
I love chocolate
I love food that is bad for me
I hate sweating
moving is annoying because I want to read, play on the internet, watch TV , play on pinterest, crochet, sew , research things Im interested in, fold socks, do the dishes that pile up from 7 people constantly wanting to eat,
you get the idea

SO WHY did I change?
In November I found a lump
I showed hubs because I wanted to make sure I was not nuts and that it was indeed there
he felt it too
He made me a doc appointment
They said since it had been a while since I had a check up it was time for blood work
I did the fasting blood work
I got weighed when I went in
241lbs
I joked with the nurse that is could be worse
She took my blood pressure the cuff never fits my arm well so they have to make sure to have the large cuff
200/99
OK you have my attention
then the blood work
A1c was 9.7 that is a test to see the average blood sugar over a three month period normal is 6.0 and lower is considered normal over 6.5 is diabetic
Fasting blood sugar level was 219 normal is under 100
Cholesterol 211 HDL 29 LDL 121 Triglicerides 305

OK you REALLY have my attention
My doctor checked the lump it was there she set up the usual mamogram/ultrasound testing for later that week(the quickest they could get me in)
and then she looked at me with very sad eyes (if you know my doc she is a sweetheart very nice lady a nurse practitioner yes I call her my doc)
she suggested medications
to lower blood pressure
and to deal with my now diagnosis of diabetes
I started to cry
I told her I can't go on meds She knows of my forgetful nature and said something about support and reminders etc
that was not my reason I can't go on meds
because of QT
he is severely autistic and can get into everything

This is a QT selfie he took it with NabiJr he loves taking pics of himself

I'm not kidding locks, no problem
combinations easy, bolts, pill bottles please he knows how to turn off alarms we know we have one on the cabinet where we keep meds.
So that face right there HE is my inspiration. I'm working my ass off literally so that he is not exposed to the meds that could save my life but would end his in a moment of carelessness



The lengths we have gone to keep dangerous deadly household things away from him are no more than others have done including making our own edible cleaners (super easy too)

but that is another post

I begged for 3 months to get my shit together and use diet and exercise to control it. She looked at me and with reservations (because she had probably heard it all before) gave me 2 months 
I had till February 10, 2014 to impress her and save myself.

After my doctor appointment I went home
and I cut the crap
no more eating deli broasted chicken
no more fast food
no more soda
no more ice cream(almost daily)
no more candy (more than once a day)
no more eggs (daily)
no more white bread
no more white rice
no more 2nds 3rds and fourths
no more huge "American" servings

and time to move

I started out with my exercise bike I have a stationary recumbent bike I started out riding it in the morning every morning for 30 minutes
I ate real servings of food
I started out slow with realistic stuff I could do
I drank water I have a one liter bottle I fill it 3 times a day
I cut down to one cup of coffee a day no sugar no milk(I always liked it black anyways)
I drink green tea
I take my vitamins and supplements (when I remember which is mostly everyday)
I monitor my blood pressure at home within a week I started to notice it going down
I started to notice more energy
The scale started to go down
I started to not need a nap in the afternoon just to make it through the day
I started to not have headaches
The swelling in my hands and feet that I did not notice started to go down
I'm still crabby that is just my nature I'm a grump no matter what people think to the contrary

My dear friend Autumn suggested I use Leslie Sansone walk at home videos and I added those instead of the bike to my routine in December early (those are fun)

By the end of December I had dropped 16lbs and my blood pressure was while on the high side much closer to normal than it had been at the beginning of the month
I used my Christmas money I got from MIL and instead of buying my usual stack of Colin Firth or Channing Tatum movies and a couple of books (sorry my writer friends) I bought a fitbit flex (awesome thing well worth the money and THAT is again another post)

December 31 I took a picture of myself

I have another one of me from September taken with QTs Nabijr

and a pic of me and the family take in November

Family pic taken November 2013 back row Zach , Dave, Alex, Tim ,

 

Front Row Nik Sue QT

OH and here is a picture of me taken last week because I started doing that December 31 I now take weekly pics front and side

This morning I weighed in at 203.8
You are probably wondering what happened with my blood work on February 10th
my Blood pressure is on the high end of normal my normal is 130/70 it was 140/88 so I am still working on it but it is a hellova lot better than 200/99

my A1c
is a 7.1 considering it includes November when I was still eating like crap and having a daily huge dose of sugar and fat
my cholesterol levels are now normal she said they do not need to be tested again till my appointment next year
The lump in my breast is still there hubs and I have named it Blinky
the doc said there is a minor change in it she will be checking on it again at my next appointment unless I notice more changes , the next step is biopsy and another mamogram and ultrasound the first one did not pick up anything out of the ordinary at all.
and my weight is down 37lbs as of today(February 16, 2014)

My doctor was shocked and had a huge smile on her face and said ONLY you would have that determination to do it how did you do it?

I cut the crap and got moving


THAT is my background story
I still have a LONG way to go
I have another appointment in 3 months for more blood work with my doc my goal is to drop 30lbs by then (I'll be thrilled with 20lbs happy with 15lbs)
OH clothing sizes you might want to note
pants in December were a size 24 womens
now a size 16 womans


IF you have any specific requests or questions give me a comment
If you want punctuation you have come to the wrong place

Hello

Hi this is an introduction post to my new blog that hopefully will not get ignored like my other blogs
my goal with this blog is
nothing
this one is all for me folks
I will be talking here are things I want to talk about
mostly my getting healthy journey
the whys the how tos etc
I wanted to name this blog cut the crap
because that is what I did
I cut the crap
This is my no bullshit blog
I will not give you any and I will not take any
if you have negative things to say go for it
I will probably laugh that you got upset at something you read on the internet
but hey if it works for you that is cool with me
I'm hoping to get some tabs up at the top so you can easily navigate the blog
things like
recipes
gardening
exercise
diet
progress pictures (I started taking weekly pictures December 31)
and my research into some of this stuff
and I will have links and my reviews of what I think of things I have tried

I have always said if you want to know how to lose weight ask the fat chicks we know how to do it does not mean we will but we know how

NOW here is your disclaimer
I am doing this for me
I am not a doctor
I made these choices because I feel they are what is the best option for ME
since I am not YOU I cannot nor will I make choices for you
If you want to see how I cut the crap
give this little mess without punctuation a follow
and I'll update when I get around to it

SO