Lost Post-Cobbler

Hiya... so this is the recipe from one of the lost posts. If you would like something you can print let me know and I can email you the word file. XOXO

Gramma Louella's Surprise Cobbler—Revised

Original Recipe

1 ½ Cup Bisquick

1 Cup Sugar

½ Cup Melted Butter or Margerine (one stick)

1-2 ½ Large cans fruit (Gramma says the more the better, my favorite is apricots)

¾ Cup Milk

3-4 Tbsp Corn Starch

1. Preheat oven to 425°.

2. Drain the fruit, reserving about ½ cup of liquid. Heat in medium saucepan on the stove. You can add sugar If you would like the fuite sweeter. Bring fruit to a light boil.

3. While the fruit is cooking, mix together the bisquick, sugar, melted butter and milk. The batter will feel somewhat thick.

4. Depending on how thick you want the fruit to be, add 3-4 tablespoons to the reserved liquid and pour into the fruit. Stirring until thickened. If you want the fruit thicker, you can add more corn starch.

5. Spray a long baking pan and add the hot fruit.

6. Pour or spoon the bisquick mixture over the fruit. Don't worry if it doesn't cover the entore top completely. It will rise and spread out durring the baking process.

7. Sprinkle the top with an extra ¼ cup of sugar if desired.

8. Bak for 20-30 minutes until a skewer in the middle comes out clean.

Revised Recipe-Fruit Only

3 Cups Sliced Rhubarb

3 Cups Sliced Strawberries

1 Large Can Apricots (you can supstitute fresh Apricots, I would guess about 2 cups)

½ Cup Sugar

1 Tblsp Butter

3-4 Tblsp Corn Starch

1. Melt butter in medium saucepan.

2. Add sliced rhubarb and cook for about 5 minutes until softened.

3. Add strawberries and sugar.

4. Drain apricots reserving about ¼- ½ cup liquid. Add to pan.

5. Mix together the reserved liquid corn starch. Once the fruit comes to a boil add the mixture and stir until thickened.

6. Follow the original recipe for topping and baking.

--
(¯`•.•´¯) ♥ Katy♥
*`• .¸(¯`•.•´¯)
♥ º° ♥ `•.¸.•´ ♥ º° ♥

Letter to a Long Ago Friend

I lost you fourteen years ago. I'm not sure how or why, but somewhere along the way our friendship just vanished.

Did we just grow apart, or did we disagree and just never recover? I wish I knew...I wish I could remember.

Maybe I lacked the bravery and the knowledge to keep out friendship growing. Maybe it became too hard and with so many other things in life, I just gave up.

I hate to think that I gave up on a friendship that spanned our adolescent and teenage years. Maybe we were meant to part. Maybe adulthood was never meant to be a part of our story. Were we friends simply because our circumstances united us, or was there a spark there that kept us close? Sometimes, I wonder what our friendship would look like today.

I watch you from a distance now. I'm not quite sure I let go, but I am no longer holding on. I haven't spoken your name or heard your voice in almost a decade...but I'm so proud of you. I've seen who you've become. You have bravely and honestly pursued the life you have been given and accomplished so many things that you always wanted to do.

I know that you will never read this, but if there is one thing I could tell you, it would be this...I will always be in the background, standing in the shadows cheering you on. 

Sent from my iPad

Lost posts...

I downloaded a new app to post blogs from my iPad and in attempting to figure things out, vie managed to delete a coupled of posts. Bah!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

An update from the iPad and a recipe

So, I couldn't find an app for blogger, but I figured I could just use the note pad and then email the post. Also, I'm really loving the iPad. As someone who isn't really techy or busynessy I've struggled a little bit with feeling worthy of the iPad...but i've discovered a cool journal app and I'm excited about iBooks.
Anyway, I'm going to post about my six week challenge soon. It really didn't go well and I'm formulating my words for it carefully.
In the meantime. Here is a recipe for my orange baked beans. I kind of mixed a recipe I found for Boston baked beans and my moms recipe for orange baked beans and formulated my own recipe. The recipe I found from big daddies house on the food network called for roasted garlic, but my dad doesn't like garlic so I used caramelized onions instead. If you don't know how to caramelize onions, you might want to find better directions than mine, but I did just write down what I did. Please let me know if you try it and if you changed anything. Also, as a warning, this mares a lot of beans so you can easily half it if you want. You can also omit the bacon if you want. I just had real bacon bits on hand so i used those.

Orange Baked Beans
-2 tbsp olive oil
-2 large onions (prefferably sweet like Vidalia or Wallawalla) sliced
-6 slices cooked bacon or 1 cup precooked bacon bits.
-1teaspoon seasoning salt
-2 large cans vegetarian baked beans (such as Bush's)
-4 regular size cans beans, any mixture you like (I use a mix of black and pinto) drained and rinsed
- 1 can frozen orange juicer concentrate
- 1/2 cup brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
1. Carmelize the onions.
Heat olive oil in either a dutch oven or soup pot (I know I'm real technical) on med. Add onions and stir. Cover pot cook for about 45 minutes until the onions are soft and a light golden color...stirring occasionally so the onions don't burn.
2. Add seasoning salt and bacon stirring to combine.
3. Add beans, orange juice concentrate and brown sugar and half cup of water. Stir to combine and heat until bubbling.
4. Cover pan and place in oven. Bake for 4-6 hours until beans thick.

Sent from my iPad

My What ifs

A couple of weeks ago Don Miller posted a blog about how the most powerful question an author can ask about their character is "what if"? It's not a question to make you dwell on the past, but to dwell on the future, and what would happen if you tried something that you've been wanting to.

Yesterday he posted a challenge for small groups to create a "what if" challenge. Since I don't belong to a small group, I decided maybe I would start a challenge to myself here. I'm hoping to check in once a week with them... but it might not happen (just being honest)... anyway, here goes nothing.

Since February I have been in an irreversible funk. I've been depressed and dealing with anxiety and in the process of this all, I've put on 15 lbs. It took me a year to lose 20 lbs and less than 4 months to gain most of it back. So, my what if challenge is going to hopefully lead me back onto plan...

What if...

...I tracked and stayed on plan for the next 6 weeks?

...I walked 3-4 times a week for the next 6 weeks?

...instead of eating when I'm bored, depressed, emotional, stressed or tired, I picked up a pen and journal and wrote?

...I sat down to finish my essay on bravery?

...I started the Hello Portland blog I've had in the back of my mind for a couple of years now?

Do you have any what ifs? If you do, maybe you could think about joining me? You know... all 4 of you that read my blog. :)

Good For Her

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/music/interviews/2010/jenniferknapp-apr10.html

Pictures!

Not my pictures.. but someone else's... my bestest friend has a new pic a day blog... you should all check it out.

The Good News and The Bad News

The good news is that my capri's from last year (which are also from the year before) still fit.

The bad news is that my capri's from last year (which are also from the year before) still fit.

I think it's time for more coffee.

It's Here

Dear Friends... I refuse to apologize for this link...

I think I'm more excited for this one than for any of them... considering I wasn't a big fan of the book... Eclipse

March Confessions

1. I'm bad at blogging consistently.
2. I didn't do the thing I said I was going to do in the January confession... I started asking the important questions, and didn't quite get the right answers.
3. Health Care Bill... I don't care. I probably should. My extremely conservative parents and friends would say I should, my extremely liberal smf and friends would say I should. I just don't.
4. Coffee... coffee is the key to everything that is good and right in this world.
5. I shaved my legs this weekend for the first time since January... and the tmi is that it stopped up my drain.
6. I'm still tracking everyday... but I've managed to gain almost 10 pounds since january, and it's got me in a funk.
7. The mug I wrote about in my very first post broke... well, the handle broke off.
8. I have a secret about "&" that I will not be sharing.
9. I miss having friends to go out with. I was in bed by 7:30 Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 comes out in November... I'm planning a trip to SF for the event.

January Confessions

1. I hate cooked celery. This is a rather new occurrence.

2. I'm obsessed with cherry pie filling. Odd, since as much as I love cherries, I'm not big on cherry flavored things.

3. It's been a really hard winter and I'm getting up the nerve to tell my parents I'm moving to California hopefully before next winter, and trying to get the nerve to tell them why.

Perseverance is the Key... I think

I have fake confidence. I've been walking around masquerading my insecurities and fears pretending to be confident in the hope confidence will grow and hopefully overshadow my doubts. I wish I believed more in myself. I wish I could sit here and say "I can do it!" Really, I sit here and say "I think I can. I think I can. I think I can."

I've always known that picking a diet and following it for six weeks wouldn't work... at least not for me. Mostly because six weeks would only get me a fraction of the way to where I need to be. But, I think if I can make it six weeks... then I make it another six weeks... and then another six weeks after that. Well, what happens if I screw up within those six weeks... what do I do? Normally I would give up. I would decide it's not worth... in reality what I'm deciding is I'm not worth it.

"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal." - Henry Ford

I'm slowly learning two things... 1. I AM worth it and 2. Perseverance is one of the most important aspects. Making a mistake isn't that big a deal... facing those obstacles and getting over them that is what is important. I need to keep my eye on the goal. When I face an obstacle, I need to remind myself that I can do this... perseverance is the key... keep on keeping on. And whatever other tacky phrases I can come up with.

"When the world says, 'Give up,'
Hope whispers, 'Try it one more time.'"

~Author Unknown

So, in my attempt to persevere, I am setting little goals for myself to help me achieve the big goal. At WW they call this... well, I don't remember... building blocks maybe? I would look it up but all my stuff is at home and I am not.

I didn't even really realize it, but I was doing this. By tracking and journaling everything I eat, and then by meal planning. I've been setting and accomplishing little goals. My next little goal is to eat slower.

I eat fast. It's something I'm starting to realize more and more as I start to eat around other people more. I finish way ahead of everyone else, and usually make myself sick from eating too much. So, I'm going to slow down. Enjoy the food. Sip water. Enjoy the conversation around me. This is something I can do. Something that will help me reach the ultimate goal of weight loss.

All this being said, here is tomorrow's meal plan.

Breakfast-

Muffin-2

Yogurt Smoothie-2

NF Latte-2

Total-6

Pts Left-31

Snack-

Yogurt-1

Almonds-3

Total-4

Pts Left-28

Lunch-

Tortilla-3

Laughing cow light wedge-1

Ham-2

Celery-0

Cucumber-0

Bell Pepper-0

Fiber 1 yogurt-0

Total-6

Pts Left-22

Snack

Apple-2

Babybel light-1

Total-3

Pts Left-19

Dinner-

Chipotle Steak Burrito Bowl-14

Total-14

Pts Left-5

Snack-

Apple-2

Ginger Snaps-3

Total-5

Pts Left-0

Garfield: My Long Lost Cousin

A couple of months ago my friend said that I reminded him a lot of Garfield. He was responding to one of my status updates on Facebook. I believe it had something to with a status update... this one to be exact "Good Morning Quad Venti non-fat Sugar free vanilla mocha. How nice of you to join me this morning." His exact comment was "Sometimes, you sound like Garfield."
I have no problem with this. I love Garfield. He is the definition of cool. He just also happens to be fat and lazy. But hey, so am I.
Well, yesterday I got onto the scale (because I have this obsessive thing about weighing every morning... I know I know, you're not supposed to do that, but I do)and I lost my balance a little and heard a crack. Well, the display was still working... and it still showed that it was thinking, but when it came time to do display the weight, it kept flashing "Err". After the 5th time of trying, I got a vision of Garfield standing on the scale and the scale talking to him. So, I looked down at the scale and stuck out my tongue.
In the end, it really doesn't matter because I do go to my WW meeting to get weighed, I just don't like to be too surprised. If I'm going to go up I like to be prepared. Anyway, with all this being said, I start meal planning again this week. I actually did it everyday last week, but only posted two days here, because I didn't have time to post in the evenings.
Today I started kitty sitting for one of my moms coworkers. They have a stationary bicycle and I thought I would try to use it at least a little everyday. We'll see how it goes.
Anyway, meal plan for Monday, September 14th.

Breakfast

Apple Bran Muffin-2

Yogurt Smoothie-2

NF Latte-2

Total-6

Pts left-31

Snack

Yogurt-2

Berries-1

Total-3

Pts Left-28

Lunch

Tortilla-3

Laughing Cow Cheese Wedge-1

Ham-2

Veggies-0

Fiber 1 Yogurt-0

Total-6

Pts Left-22

Snack

Large Apple (very large)-3

Babybell Light Cheese-1

Total-4

Pts Left-18

So, I don't have dinner planned. I'm going to pick something up on the way home. I'm thinking of this pan asian place for dinner.. so maybe terriyaki with brown rice or some sort of noodles. We shall see.

Ok. I'm off to rot my brain in front of the tv. Vampire Diaries is on. :) I've been wanting to watch it.

At the End of the Day

I'm super tired today. I have to be honest, I'm feeling really defeated. The good news is, I did OK with my eating and sticking to my meal plan with a couple of exceptions. Instead of having a peach, I made mixed fruit. I forgot my almonds and my banana, and I added licorice. Which is OK. Oh... and I was a bit hungry after dinner, so I had a piece of bed with PB. So, I went over my points by two. In the end though, I still have 24 of my 35 extra weekly points left. So technically it fit in.
I made tomorrows meal plan on the train tonight on my way home. I was a bit distracted by the ADORABLE toddler in the seat ahead of me and his smiling and waving and showing off.
Anyway, I'm setting this meal plan into the cyber world knowing that probably no one will read it, but that's OK. I'll know it's here.

Breakfast
Toast-2
Egg-2
Cheese-1
Latte-2

Total-7
Pts Left-30

Snack-
Mixed fruit-2
Yogurt-2

Total-4
Pts Left-26

Lunch
Sandwich-5
Banana-2
Veggies-0
Laughing Cow Cheese Wedge-1

Total-9
Pts Left-18

Snack-
Almonds-3

Total- 3
Pts left-15

Dinner-
Grilled Chicken Breast-3
Stuffing -4
Salad w/dressing-2

Total-9
Pts Left-4

Well, I have super cold toes, so I'm heading to bed. Type at ya later.

For the Love of Stardust

"You know when I said I knew little about love? That wasn't true. I know a lot about love. I've seen it, centuries and centuries of it, and it was the only thing that made watching your world bearable. All those wars. Pain, lies, hate... It made me want to turn away and never look down again. But when I see the way that mankind loves... You could search to the furthest reaches of the universe and never find anything more beautiful. So yes, I know that love is unconditional. But I also know that it can be unpredictable, unexpected, uncontrollable, unbearable and strangely easy to mistake for loathing, and... What I'm trying to say, Tristan is... I think I love you. Is this love, Tristan? I never imagined I'd know it for myself. My heart... It feels like my chest can barely contain it. Like it's trying to escape because it doesn't belong to me any more. It belongs to you. And if you wanted it, I'd wish for nothing in exchange - no gifts. No goods. No demonstrations of devotion. Nothing but knowing you loved me too. Just your heart, in exchange for mine."

I love Stardust. I really do. The more I think about it, the more I realize that it is pretty much my favorite movie. (I mean, really, where else are you going to see Robert De Niro as a cross dressing pirate?)

This movie (and book.. such a good book) is really about learning that what we want isn't always what is best for us. This is a concept I am learning in great bounds lately.

We can love someone who will make us jump through hoops to earn their love all the while the one that we truly desire and deserve is right in front of us, not asking for anything other than our love.

We can spend out lifetime trying to make a fortune and store up treasure, an din the end, we might be rich beyond comprehension, but we are alone.

There is so much more to say about this. Probably more than I even have time to talk about so I will end this here.

I really can't recommend this book and movie enough.

Monday Confession

I'm lazy. I really am. I meant to go through my whole work week (a short week...yay!) and create a meal plan for everyday. I only got through tomorrow. But at least I got through it. To be honest, breakfast and lunch probably won't vary too much throughout the week, so it's a start.
Anyway, here is my meal plan for Tuesday, September 8th. I get 37 points a day. I need to get in 5 fruits/veggies, 2 lean protein, 2 milk/dairy, 2 healthy oils (sometimes I use nuts for this)

Breakfast-
Latte-2
Granola-3
Yogurt-2
Peach-1

Total Pts-8
Total Pts Left-29
I also used my two milk requirements, a whole grain (rolled oats in the granola)and a fruit

Snack-
Almonds-3

Total Pts- 3
Total Pts Left-26
Used 1 healthy oil

Lunch-
Whole Grain Wrap-3
Laughing Cow Cheese Wedge-1
Ham-2
Veggies-0
Banana-2
Fiber 1 yogurt-0

Total Pts-8
Total Pts left-18
Used 2 veggies (hoping to get in two veggies, probably mini peppers and celery) 2 fruits (a banana counts as 2), Lean protein

Snack-
Almonds-3 (i don't usually do the same snack twice, but I have these little snack bags of almonds so I'm using half in the morning and half in the afternoon).

Total Pts-3
Total Pts left-15
One healthy oil used

After Work Snack-
McD's Ice cream cone-3 pts

Total pts-3
Total pts left-12

Dinner-
Chili Taco Soup-6
(my recipe, leftovers)

Total pts-6
Total pts left-6

This leaves me with a 6 point leeway in the day to work with...

I have to be honest...

... I'm forcing myself to write this right now. I made a decision to write a blog once a day through the end of the month. I missed the first few days. In my honest state of mind, I have to say this probably won't last very long. But I'm going to try.
I don't have my meal plan yet. I am going to work on it tomorrow morning. I'm hoping it will force me to get out of bed since today I just wanted to h

And I leave you with this...

When it Doesn't Turn Out

So, I decided I was going to make these wonderfully delicious looking bars for breakfast next week. I made a double batch so I could share with the 'rents. However, I didn't have toasted wheat germ. I had wheat bran. And flax seed meal. I got them put together and in the oven. I figured out the points value (three by the way). I let them sit for 3 hours. I started to cut them, and they fell apart.
So, long story short, I now have realy delicious granola to eat with yogurt for breakfast this week. Jealous? You should be.
Anyway, I'm not quite sure what happened. I think most likely I didn't press them into the pan enough. It could have also been the substitutions or maybe not enough honey? I ran out of honey and used brown sugar for the rest. Oh well. :)
Also, just so all of you wonderful people know... Ingrid Michaelson's new album Everybody is amazingly wonderful.

An Idea

Dear Friends,
“I like to start my notes to you as if we’re already in the middle of a conversation.
I pretend that we’re the oldest and dearest friends– as opposed to what we actually are — people who don’t know each other’s names and met in a chat room where we both claimed we’d never been before."
Oh wait, that's already been said before.....let's start over


Dear Friends,
Let me explain why I've been twittering my food intake. Well, I'm doing so that I think before eating and also so that I remember to track it and count my points. I'm afraid that it's a bit annoying, but it's really helping me (for the most part) so I'm hoping you all won't mind if I continue to do it.
I also had another idea. I really need to make a habit of planning. I want to start planning at least a week in advanced so that I can be prepared and make good choices. So, I'm going to start posting my meal plans here. I hope you don't mind. You can ignore them if you want, or if you have ideas and thoughts that you think would be helpful I would love all your imput. Realy, I am doing it to keep myself in check and accountable.

Most sincerely and lovingly yours,
Katy

The Ugly Truth

I love carbs. Sometimes it's almost impossible to stop eating them once I start. Tonight I ate 8 corn tortillas.. 6 of them with nothing on them. If I don't portion out things first, I will eat whole bags of pretzels, chips, popcorn...pasta, rice, french fries. Don't even get me started on bread... especially sourdough baguettes.

I truly believe that carbs are what is hindering my weight loss effort... but i can't not have them. It's just not an option for me. So, what do I do? I try to weigh and measure things out first. Then I put them in baggies by serving size and make sure I know what the points are BEFORE I eat them.

So, tonight, after my tortillas...well, I didn't have anything else. But I really want pie. I think there is something else going on though. I mean, between the depression and the insomnia and the cravings... I'm either getting sick, just dealing with depression, or pms'ing. Hopefully I'll pull it together by next week.