TT #20 ~ 13 Tips for eating Healthier

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

These tips are from one of my new favorite sites SparkPeople.

1. Use mustard instead of mayo on your sandwiches. You’ll get lots of flavor with much fewer calories and fat.

2. Select whole wheat bread over white bread. Be sure to read the label to ensure you’re getting whole grains, not just colored white bread.

3. Eat the white meat of turkey or chicken, which is lower in fat than dark meat, red meat and pork. Animal fat is the number one dietary source of unhealthy saturated fat.

4. Start using lean ground beef, pork tenderloin or fish instead of high-fat cuts of meat.

5. Change your cooking methods. Bake, grill or broil your meals instead of frying. Use non-stick sprays—or better yet, non-stick pans—instead of oil.

6. Drink more water. Slowly reduce the amount of soda you drink and replace it with herbal tea or water. Aim for eight cups of pure water each day.

7. Don’t drink your calories. Eat a whole orange instead of drinking a glass of juice, for example. Real food is usually more filling and more nutritious than juices, fruit drinks, and other high-calorie beverages.

8. Serve sauces and dressings on the side. Dip your fork into the sauce, then dip your fork into the food. You’ll still have the flavor but with fewer calories.

9. Gradually switch to skim milk. Milk commonly comes in four varieties: whole (4% fat), 2%, 1% and skim (0% fat). Gradually wean yourself from the higher-fat varieties to the lower fat milk every two weeks. For example: continue drinking your normal 2% milk for two weeks, then move to 1% for two weeks, and then your palate will be ready for the consistency of skim milk.

10. Switch from full-fat cheeses to reduced-fat or fat-free cheeses the same way you would with milk (see tip above).

11. Order vegetables on the side instead of fries. Flavor them with lemon juice or herbs instead of butter.

12. Snack on fruit and nuts instead of sugary treats. The fiber, protein and healthy fats in this combo will sustain you to your next meal and you won’t have the energy slump that comes after eating candy.

13. Reduce your portion size. Most people will eat whatever amount of food is in front of them, so start putting your meals on smaller plates. You will be just as satisfied because your mind “sees” that you’re eating a full plate of food.

For more inspiration on sensible eating check out the Brown Plate Special I’m a part of…

For more TT’s click here.

Wildflowers in Winter ~ Week 4

 

The Wildflower fun is continuing at Elizabeth Joy’s site. This week February 6th thru the 12th the theme is decorating in the home.

Wildflowers in the Home – Decorating with wildflowers. Show us dishes or other decorations made by you or someone else that you have in your home. Save the fabric decorations and paintings or drawings for the next two weeks.

I’m sharing dishes that I have with floral themes. Some may not be true wildflowers. I’m also including two collages of tea-cups that we have given to my mother over the years that have more of a wildflower feel to them.

My china pattern is Moss Rose by Royal Albert.

These are Johnson Brothers English Chippendale (pattern 103232)

These are a few of the Tea-Cups we have bought our mother over the years.

 

For more Wildflowers in the Home visit Elizabeth Joy at Wildflower Morning.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

The Somis Nut House

** Scroll on down past this post for Wordless Wednesday.

I made a little trip to the Somis Nut House. It’s located on Los Angeles Ave. between Lewis Rd. (Hwy 34) and North St. in the little town of Somis, California. It’s a family run business that has been in Somis for almost 48 years. It’s nothing great to look at from the outside but on the inside you find rows and rows of nuts, dried fruit, nut meal, and specialty candy, jams, sauces, etc.

If you blink you’ll drive right by it.

Like I said nothing glamorous on the outside.

 

 

Almonds, Filberts, Cashews, Peanuts, Pecans, trail mixes, etc.

 

Love the signs like Cashier Nut. And I was so pleased to find Walnettos here. “Want a Walnetto?” Is anyone old enough to remember that line from Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In?

~

Forget Me Nut…

They also have Almond meal and Filbert Meal

 

Had to include this shot with Fruit Labels from the state of Washington…

These were my choices for the day. Roasted and Salted Peanuts, Honey Roasted Peanuts, and of course the Walnetto’s! We were more impressed with the taste of the peanuts from Somis Nut House than Trader Joe’s. Dear says “In comparison the peanuts from Trader Joe’s tasted like they came across the Atlantic between the toes of Columbus’ men.”

So the next time I want nuts for anything I’ll be coming back to Somis Nut House…

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

The Brown Plate Special ~ Week 1

***Please scroll down to the next post if you are here for FUN MONDAY!

I’m joining my friend Kim at Hiraeth for the Brown Plate Special. Along with Lovella and her Walking Club I’m hoping these two accountability groups will help me reach some of my goals for being in better shape and weighing less while enjoying food I love. Today is the first Monday that I will be posting whether I had any weight loss or gain. Yikes. I think this first week should be great because of the typical water weight loss I have at the beginning of any sensible program. So let me run off to the scale and I’ll be right back to tell you what it shows. No not the total weight (I’m not that accountable) just the loss or gain people!!

Woohoo! I am down 4.8#’s. I realize much of this is water weight but who cares I love seeing smaller numbers on the scale. I also realize my weight loss for the next weeks will be closer to 1 lb. a week or less but that’s ok, too. I’m excited to keep going…

Below you’ll find an explanation of what The Brown Plate Special is with links to Kim’s site if you want to join us or just see how this is working.

The Brown Plate Special

In the comments of my recent Recipe Round-up/Snackalicious Super Dishes post my friend, Ellen B, left a haunting question; well, at least a question that’s been haunting me for some time now:

How’s an aging girl who loves food (and LOVES to cook) ever gonna lose weight…?

 

I’ve given it a lot of thought and I think I have come up with a doable plan for aging girls like me and Ellen.  I am calling it “The Brown Plate Special” and I invite you to try this along with me!

I got the idea when I bought a couple of cute little chocolate brown plates on clearance last week.  They are just 9 inches in diameter instead of the standard 10.5 inches and have a little “well” in the center that is 6.5 inches in diameter.  I’m thinking that if I commit to using this little brown plate instead of a regular plate for all my meals, and “load” it only so that it looks visually porportionate to a normal serving of food on a normal plate, slowly but surely I will get portions under control and begin to lose weight without giving up cooking and eating the foods we love.

You can use any small sandwich or dessert plate.  The only other guidelines are just the common sense stuff that most of us in our 40’s and 50’s have already come to grips with:

  • No between meal snacking
  • No evening snacking
  • No second helpings
  • No deserts except on special occasions

Since accountability is essential in such matters, I’ll be weighing in every Monday morning and I’ll confess my weight loss (or lack thereof) in a regular Monday morning post.

If you decide to join me, feel free to invite friends to join us by writing a post and adding this handy dandy button in your side bar.   You can post your weekly progress on a post of your own or in the comments of my weekly post.

So, what have you got to lose

 

Fun Monday ~ The Bucket List…

Tiggerlane, the Neophyte is hosting Fun Monday this week. Here’s her assignment.

Have you heard of The Bucket List? Well, that’s what I want from you! Make a list of things you want to do before you die. It must be at leastfive items – and you can make it as long as you desire. Photos are optional. And let’s hear about some of the wackiest, most bizarre to-do’s on your Bucket List!

These are not listed in order of importance just in order of how they came into my brain.

1. Visit Ireland. And while there I want to visit Trinity College and see the Book of Kells. I also want to tour the Guinness Brewery. A visit to the Jameson Distillery for my husband’s pleasure. I want to eat a good meal in Cork. I’d like to see the countryside. I’d love to do a Pub Crawl with some good traditional Irish music.

2. I’d love to experience grandchildren.

3. I’d like to fly first-class to Australia or New Zealand so the many hours in the plane would feel more comfortable.

4. I’d like to have a great famous cook like Ina Garten or Jamie Oliver cook a meal for me and my friends at my house with a clean up crew.

5. I’d like to walk across England from the Irish Sea to the North Sea.

6. I’d like to meet some of my bloggy friends at a spa resort.

7. I’d like to be living back in my home in the Seattle area.

I’m just not a person who desires whacky or bizarre things in my life. I’m happy with a cup of tea in a beautiful setting.

Or a lovely meal with friends. A worshipful church service where the truth is taught and the love of God is felt. Probably the most out of this world experience I think would be real cool is …

8. The Acts 2:2-4 experience…”Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”

For me that would be an amazing experience.

For more Bucket lists check out Tiggerlane’s site for more links to Fun Monday posts…

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

The Holy Spirit, Lord, Alone ~ Fanny Crosby

 

Thy Holy Spirit, Lord, Alone

Thy Holy Spirit, Lord, alone,
Can turn our hearts from sin;
His power alone can sanctify
And keep us pure within.

Thy Holy Spirit, Lord, alone
Can deeper love inspire;
His power alone within our souls
Can light the sacred fire.

Thy Holy Spirit, Lord, can bring
The gifts we seek in prayer;
His voice can words of comfort speak,
And still each wave of care.

Thy Holy Spirit, Lord, can give
The grace we need this hour;
And while we wait, O Spirit, come
In sanctifying power.

Words by Fanny Crosby

ht: cyberhymnal

Walking Club Tally ~ Week 3

This week was a much more successful week for me in the walking numbers. I walked close to an hour every day but Friday.  Today Dear and I walked at the beach for close to 2 hours! My average this week was 11,508 steps a day. I’m so much happier with these results and I hope that when I weigh in on Monday for the Brown Plate Special I’ll have some lower numbers on the scale, too. Before our walk we had some blintzes that my mom brought over last weekend. I filled them with a ricotta mixture.

The Blintzes were baked with butter and half & half. After they were out of the oven we put a dollop of sour cream on top and some pure maple syrup. This was at 6:00 am so I have a whole day to burn off these calories. 🙂 I think Lovella will be pleased. Good thing we’re headed for a good long walk…

 

We decided to walk along the railroad tracks at Emma Wood State Beach in Ventura. It was cold and crisp this morning.

 

The Channel Islands were in clear view today.

 

 

This is at the North entrance to Emma Wood and Lana G! just called me so I’m waving to her while I talk to her in Washington. I’m all layered up cuz it was cold this morning people.  Well cold for California, it was shorts weather for you hardy folk in the North!

 

On our way back to the car I took this shot of the river and the snow capped mountains in the distance. This river empties into the ocean at the South end of Emma Wood. Hope you are all having some good times walking…

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

And the Winner Is ~

 

 So I am happy to announce the winner of my bloggy giveaway! The generator chose #33 from the 797 comments left on my blog for this giveaway. Whew I’m tired just thinking about it. So who is #33 you ask….

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:

33

Timestamp: 2008-02-01 14:01:14 UTC

My number 33 commenter is (drum roll please!) Barbara H. from Stray Thoughts!!!!

Here’s her comment ~

on January 28, 2008 at 6:44 am33 Barbara H.

Ellen, that’s gorgeous! You know I love hearts. -) Count me in!

So Barbara you were counted in and you were the winning number. Congratulations. I’ll be emailing you for your address. Blessings and may love flow from your heart when you wear this necklace or give it away….

Thanks to everyone who entered my giveaway.

Antique Valentine Postcards (1909 – 1915)

For Show & Tell this week I’d like to share these antique Valentine Day Post Cards that Dear’s Great, great Aunt Emma received from 1909 to 1915. They all have 1 cent stamps on them.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

For more Show and Tell visit There’s No Place Like Home.