Jalapeño Popper Cheesy Baked Stuffed Chicken

Oh my, OH MY!!!

I saw this recipe on Skinnytaste and it was a must try!

I think the combo of cream cheese, shredded cheese, jalapenos, scallions, and bacon is simply. AMAZING!

I had asked my husband to precook the bacon before I got home from work to save me a step, he so kindly did and then it was just a quick prep for the rest.  We had just salad with it and it was delicious!  You could even save more time buying the thin chicken breasts, saving you from pounding out flat... but really, who doesn't need to destress by pounding out some chicken breasts now & then?!  I do occasionally.

When you cut into the chicken breasts, the ooey gooey cheesy goodness spills out and the aroma will blow you away!  I. promise.

If you like jalapeno poppers, you will love this.

Ingredients:

• 2 slices center cut bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 3 jalapeños, chopped (remove seeds for milder)
• 3 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened
• 4 oz reduced fat shredded cheddar jack (Sargento)
• 2 tbsp chopped scallions
• 8 thin sliced skinless chicken breast cutlets, 3 oz each (I only made 4)
• 1/2 cup Italian seasoned whole wheat breadcrumbs (I used panko, worked perfect)
• 1 1/2 juicy limes, juice of
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt and fresh pepper
• olive oil non-stick spray

Wash and dry chicken cutlets, season with salt and pepper.  Preheat oven to 450°. Lightly spray a baking dish with non-stick spray.

Combine cream cheese, cheddar, scallions, jalapeño and bacon crumbles in a medium bowl.

Lay chicken cutlets on a working surface and spread 2 tbsp of cream cheese mixture on each cutlet. Loosely roll each one, secure the ends with toothpicks to prevent the cheese from oozing out.

Place breadcrumbs in a bowl; in a second bowl combine olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper.

Dip chicken in lime-oil mixture, then in breadcrumbs and place seam side down on a baking dish. Repeat with the remaining chicken. When finished, lightly spray the top of the chicken with oil spray.

Bake 22-25 minutes, serve immediately.

For photos of the whole process, go here to Skinnytaste...  I will be trying more recipes from here.

bon appetit!

Peanut Butter Cup Protein Ice Cream

Forever I have wanted to make protein ice cream....

I don't know why I waited so long..... I can't believe I did!  I could have lived off this stuff when I was in the soft food stage right after my WLS!!!  Boy I am kicking myself now! 

Don't worry, I am sure I will make up for it!

I think the whole pre-planning part of deep freezing the ice cream maker kept throwing me off because you had to put that in the freezer like a day ahead of time!

So, anyway.... I FINALLY decided I am making it this weekend.  I miss having ice cream and it's HOT out!  Ice cream has too much fat and sugar and now makes me "dump" as a post weight loss surgery person.  For those that don't know what that is, it is different for everyone but for me I feel super sick to my stomach and most times have to lay down for a while....not.so.fun.  So, some frozen yogurts I can have but they are all calories and I can't have much.  THIS.... I can have and have a normal serving PLUS get protein tuboot!!!!

This recipe came from The World According to Eggface, she has a million protein ice cream recipes, and now I can't wait to try each and every single one of them!!!  Can you give me an AMEN??? ;)

Shelly's Peanut Butter Cup Protein Ice Cream

1 cup Regular or Soy Milk (I used whole Milk, and was told to use 2% or higher for creaminess)
2 scoops Chocolate Protein Powder
1 Tablespoon Peanut Butter, melted (I used Jif Creamy)
Optional: 3 or 4 Sugar Free Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, chopped

(I actually doubled this recipe and it filled a cool whip container full.)

Nuke peanut butter for 25 seconds to thin. Mix together milk, protein & peanut butter. Shelly uses this gadget (I used my blender) to mix it up. It makes it airy and lump free. Pour into ice cream maker while the ice cream maker is moving. Follow your machine's instructions for freezing. 5 minutes before done add the optional chopped SF Reese's. You can eat it right away it is soft serve-ish but I like to put it in the freezer to set for an hour or so.

Also, I added a little more melted peanut butter in between a layer of ice cream to create a pb swirl....awesome!

Enjoy!!

Check Shelly's site for a ton more protein ice cream recipes

Dr. Seuss Christmas in July Party

Our daycare does an annual Christmas in July Party every year in the summer in lieu of one at Christmas time, for all the families that come to daycare.  Our daycare provider is unbelievable, she starts over a month before the party planning and decorating and having all the kids help with craft projects that are used to decorate her whole yard.  This year's theme was Dr. Seuss!!

The One Fish Two Fish, had the faces of all our children.....very clever!

All the decorations on the HOO tree were all handmade by the kids.

center pieces on the tables included all different Dr. Seuss books
There were decorations from some of the books too, so cute!

My Little Cindy Lu Hoo!  She looked like her, but I don't think that was planned! ;)

More decorations - flowers with our children's photos and leaves made from their hands!

"Cat in the Hat" cookies I brought made from white chocolate dipped oreos with red chocolate dipped marshmallows on top.  Kids loved em!

Santa came in his summer time attire and brought gifts for each child - how fun!!  And, I loved how Christmas music was playing in the background of the party.... caught myself singing along alot once.

Every Year the Daycare Provider has an annual WATER BALLOON FIGHT!!  All the kids gang up on her and water balloon's fly back and forth through the yard! 

After the waterballoons, they gave each child a plastic cup to pick up all the broken balloon's on the ground and she gave each child a prize for picking them all up (which was genius!).

Loved this t-shirt!!

Over all a fun time had all and being that my Cindy Lu Hoo starts kindergarten, sadly will miss coming here regularly and seeing all her friends.  We still plan to visit on off days and summers but I know it's a place my daughter truly feels loved and will miss.

Thank you Darlene's Garden Daycare....you have been Angels from Heaven to us!!!
You will be missed!!!!

Banana Soft Serve

OMG!!! When I saw this recipe, it DID change my life!

Since I can not eat high fat or high sugar foods, ice cream is pretty much out of my life now.  It is a shame in a sense that I can't enjoy a ice cream on a hot summer day unless it's a sugar-free ice cream and not all of those taste that great.  So, when I found this, I could not wait to try it!  Well, I tried it last night for the first time, and let me tell ya.... it will not be the last!

Here's the most SIMPLE instructions:

It couldn’t be more simple. Take 2-3 frozen bananas (you can freeze them in ziplock bags or in tupperware), like so (this was about 2 and a half):

And throw them in your food processor (I only have a mini one, so I used my blender, worked fine I just had to scrape the bananas down a couple times). Then turn the processor on and let it run for about five minutes, stopping every now and then to scrape it down. The bananas should get increasingly light, fluffy, and smooth. By the time you’re done, they’ll resemble a creamy bowl of soft serve, like so:

Scoop them into a bowl and enjoy!

My daughter loved it too and she put a bunch of chocolate chips over hers!

Have a happy & healthy day!!! ~ M

Overcome Self Sabotaging Behavior

I have to admit to you, I have been having a hard time lately with self sabotaging behavior when it comes to my diet.  I have been doing really well most days during the week, but in the evenings and especially on the weekends, I just blow it and feel out of control at times. 

I started reading about Self Sabotaging Behavior, but most of it says things like low self-esteem, or you don't believe you can get to your goal.  I don't think that's me, I've got there before and gained so I KNOW I can get back.  And if you know me personally, you'd know I was not the type that didn't think I deserve it!  But, for some reason, I do not pause and have a little (inside) conversation with myself before I go to grab for that box of crackers at 9:30pm.  Why?  Not sure.  But I found some advice on Anne Berry Hill's website that I really liked and wanted to share with you.

Tools to Overcome Self Sabotaging Behavior

1. Identify the feeling that IMMEDIATELY preceded the stumble. Were you feeling angry, frustrated, powerless, overwhelmed, undervalued, rebellious, tired, lazy, resentful? It is so important to be brave and honest enough to look that emotion in the face. It is a huge part of the discovery process.
2. What situation(s)  initiated that feeling you discovered above? Did you have an argument? Are you overwhelmed with your responsibilities? Financial pressures? Trouble at work? Kids got you pulling your hair out? Any one of those situations could evoke a strong emotional response.
3. Why did you start this program? Or, why do you start it over and over? What result are you striving to achieve? I mean, is it just weight loss? Or is it to impress someone? To get someones attention? Is it to be perceived by people a different way? Or simply to look and feel better in your body? Why is this question so important? Your reason for starting this in the first place has to be big enough. So when the emotional life trials kick in to low or high gear, your reason better be a pretty strong one to weather the storm.

In other words, is your goal REALLY your goal? This is how you can tell. In that split second moment of decision, and you say to yourself, “Do I want this (INSERT CRAPPY CHOICE HERE) right now? Because if I do it, it means that I want that more than I want my BIG GOAL/REASON. Let that settle on you for a second. Choose 1 way and get 1 result. Choose the other way and get a different result. Never shall the 2 intersect.

In the end, the actions you take are the TRUEST measure of what your real goals and desires are.

So true.

Healthy Raspberry Frozen Yogurt

This recipe totally ROCKS!  I was so happy to find this and you will LOVE it!!  This was from Espresso and Cream  If you are looking for a healthy alternative to ice cream, you will not be disappointed.  This is so creamy and flavorful it does not seem like you are eating something good for you, but you are!  This does not freeze that well, but you can.  It does not keep it's smooth & creamy consistency, it hardens up.  So, because it makes enough for two big servings, I froze some in a Tupperware container.  The next day I popped it into the microwave for about 30 secs, just to soften it up a bit and it was just as delicious.

The recipe called to make it in a food processor, but I've only got a mini one, so I used my blender and it came out perfect. 

Healthy Raspberry Frozen Yogurt

Ingredients
*1 1/2 cups frozen raspberries (not thawed)
*1 cup 0% plain Greek yogurt (I used 0% Plain Chobani)
* 1 tablespoon granulated stevia (I used Truvia brand) natural sugar substitute
Instructions
*Place raspberries in the bowl of a food processor (or blender) and blend for 30 seconds, until raspberries are blended into small even pieces. Add in the Greek yogurt and stevia. Blend for another minute, scraping down the sides a couple times, until mixture is smooth and creamy.

Serve immediately. You can also place in an airtight container and freeze until you’re ready to serve, but after 30 or so minutes, it won’t maintain the same creamy consistency that it has when you first make it.

Makes 2 generous servings
Nutrition Facts per serving: 115 cal., 0.5 g fat (0 g sat. fat), 0 mg chol., 15.2 g carb., 6.3 g dietary fiber, 4.5 g sugar, 12.3 g protein



ENJOY!!!!

Fouth Of July Festivities Recap

We had a wonderful Third & Fourth of July, despite being without hubby who had to work.  My daughter and I headed down to Marshfield to my friend Kathy's house, who I've known since 6th grade!  She lives a block away from Rexhame Beach where they have loads of excitement every 3rd & 4th of July.  She holds an annual cookout with over 100 of her closest friends and family.  It is always a great time.  This year was no different! 

Tuesday morning, my daughter jumped out of bed saying, "today is the day right??"  see she had been looking forward to this since her first time down last year for the 4th.  For about a week, she had started to gather her clothes and beach toys that she wanted to bring.

So, breakfast then off we went to Marshfield!  We arrived close to 10am which was perfect.  While my friend did her last minute prep for the party later that day and errands, we headed to the beach and my friend met us there later.



digging in the sand

The ocean was surprisingly warm, quite a nice surprise since my daughter loves to play in the water with her Muddah!  We stayed at the beach a few hours when my friend and her family came to join us.  Then we headed back to shower up and get ready to party!  My daughter loves that they have an outdoor shower there, so cool to a "country kid".  Funny to say that cuz we really do not live in the country contrary to what my city friends think!  (just cuz I have a pig farm on my street...geez!)

After that we went to pop over to see a friend of ours from way back, we hadn't seen him in over 20 years....God we are old!!  It was great to see them, they are visiting for the week from Colorado.  I can't believe I didn't think to take a picture of all of us while we were there. Oh well, Jason & Sarah...it just means you have to visit again so we can take a photo next time! Back at Kathy's people started to arrive in droves.... kids, families, friends, friends of friends, teenagers... all brought food & drinks to feed an army!  I think it had to be one of the largest amounts of people in a small place I'd seen in a long while.  And when you were in her back yard and looked around to all her neighbors, they all were having large crowds over too!  Kathy and her family are so generous to open up their home and share this great country's birthday party and host it every year at their house!  So many great people, great times!

smile ;)

After dark all the glow stuff came out for the kids

then.....fireworks

and sparklers!!!

No place but Marshfield does a better job with fireworks, they are all around you.  I've never seen so many before in my life.  They also have these lanterns that they let go (wish I thought to grab a photo for you), they were beautiful!  After staying the night there, the next morning we woke up to a clean house!  See, these 16 year old elves, daughters of a friend of Kathy's had their wonderful Dad drive them to Kathy's at 6:30 AM to come and clean up from the night before.  What great kids are these and their Dad for getting up and driving them over!  He snoozed in the truck while they cleaned even!  I came downstairs to see them scurrying around cleaning and doing dishes and one was even cooking everyone pancakes!  You ladies rocked!!!  Once, we I  had 4-5 cups of coffee and a little something for breakfast it was just about time for the annual kids parade and games/cookout on the beach!  My daughter was super excited, this was her first time in a parade!

Then down to the beach for hot dogs on the beach and seaside games.  This year was high tide so there wasn't room for as many games as they usually play, but the little kids were having a blast and I think only the adults noticed the other games were missing.

We played egg toss!  I dropped the egg, so my daughter won she said! I lost!

She got many ribbons from Kathy for her egg toss and decorated bike!

sporting all her ribbons!

Thanks again to the Leonard Family XOXOX, you all know how to throw a Fourth of July party and thanks for sharing your home and beach with us who don't get to the beach very often.  Just being near the ocean has always been very therapeutic to me.  Happy Birthday America!!!

How did you spend your 4th of July??