Saturday, February 18, 2012

Personal Sized Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Ingredients:
2oz. canned chicken
1 tbsp. buffalo wing sauce
1/3C. shredded mozzerella cheese
1 wedge Laughing Cow Light Blue Cheese
1-8" flour tortilla



Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray with a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray. In a small bowl, add 2 ounces canned chicken, drained and stir in approximately 1 tablespoon of buffalo wing sauce (to your tastes). Lay out the tortilla and evenly spread the blue cheese on the tortilla. Top with chicken/sauce mixture and spread evenly. Sprinkle with the mozzerella cheese. Bake in the oven for approximately 10-15 minutes until cheese is melted. Cut into wedges and ENJOY!


Nutritional Information (using brands shown above):

Total calories: 340 calories
       From fat: 140 calories
Total Fat: 15.5g
     Saturated fat: 7.25g
     Trans fat: .5g
Cholesterol:70mg
Sodium: 1330mg
Total Carbohydrates:26g
     Fiber: 3g
     Sugars: 2g
Protein: 27.5g
Vitamin A: 23%
Vitamin C: 6%
Calcium: 48%
Iron: 12%

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Fruit Salsa

Homemade Fruit Salsa



Great on fish, pork, chicken!
Add it to whatever needs a little 'sweet heat'.

Ingredients:
1 Can Rotel
1 Can Tropical Fruit Salad (I prefer Libby's Tropical Fruit Salad)
Chopped Cilantro

Directions:

1. Drain Rotel and add to a small bowl.
2. Drain the Fruit salad and place on a chopping surface. Chop the Fruit salad to a finer consistency. Add to bowl with Rotel.
3. Mix well.
4. Add chopped Cilantro to taste. Mix well.

Can be frozen!!

FireStarters

For those of you who like to camp, these should be in your kit along with bug spray and a sleeping bag! If you are a backyard campfire kinda person, you have these next to the matches and ligher fluid. They do exactly as the name implies, help start your wood fire. They are made from recycled materials so basically, they are FREE!

I learned to make FireStarters when I was in Camp Fire as a kid. They are super simple, but should be done with adult supervision since it involves knives and the stove.

Supplies:
Wax (old candles or crayons work great)
Clean empty can
Sauce pan
dryer lint (you are gonna need alot!)
CARDBOARD egg crate (DO NOT use styrofoam!!)



1. If using crayons, peel all the paper from the outside first. Cut the wax up into pieces that will fit into the can. Meanwhile, fill the sauce pan about half full of water and bring to a boil.


2. Add the chopped wax to the can then place into the saucepan. Reduce the heat to Medium High. Let the wax melt (you do not need to stir, just let it melt)


3. While the wax is melting, stuff each egg crate space with the dryer lint. Stuff it good! Pack it in there!


4. Once the wax has melted, use an oven mitt or OveGlove and CAREFULLY pour the wax over the lint, soaking each space generously. You may have to melt more wax. Make sure the egg crate is on top of something. The wax will soak through.


5. Let the wax cool completely. Once the wax has cooled, use scissors or a box cutter to seperate the egg crate spaces. This crate made 30 FireStarters.



6. Store in a ZipLock bag.

TO USE: Once you have arranged the wood, light the cardboard edge of a FireStarter and place in the middle of the wood. It will ignite the wood.

ALTERNATIVE:
If you have old jar candles, you can save a step by placing the whole jar in the saucepan of boiling water. Be careful when you pour out the wax not to cool the jar right away. Let it sit at room temperature until it is cool to the touch, then you clean and reuse the jar!









Thursday, January 19, 2012

I'm a Bandster. I was banded September 7, 2010. So far I have lost 87 pounds. I know, huh! Yeah me! But I realized about 6 months ago that the band was not going to fix me. It was definitely helping me get to my goal weight, and I was exercising and all that, but I was not 'cured'. I needed more help. I needed a healthy relationship with food. My insurance covers psychological care (at no cost!) so I called. It may have been the hardest thing I ever did, but so far, I think it may be one of the smartest!

So I am seeing a eating disorders counselor. I am a binge eater. I eat when I am bored, lonely, emotional. I am working on it. I am also seeing a nutritionist. She is helping me see that there are no 'bad' foods, only bad habits. I am trying to become an 'intuitive' or 'mindful' eater. Basically, eating when I am hungry and what I am hungry for. It's not easy. I have a real bad case of Head Hunger and it is not always easy for me to distinguish between real physical hunger and the crap going on in my head.

BUT, I am working on it. And I want to share my journey and expiriences here. In case anyone else cares or wants to follow along, or add their 2 cents. It's cool. We'll give it a try and see how it goes.

Good luck everyone!
-Kim