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All posts in category Indulgence

Weekend Highlights

I love weekends where you feel totally productive and spend NO money. I failed to mention that I have a 3rd goal for 2013: To finally get rid of the monkey on my back, a.k.a., credit card debt. Normally, Dustin and I head to the big city of Grand Junction and go window shopping. Yet, it seems we always return with things that we just can live without. Weird.

We’ve decided that instead of going out so much, we would make more of an effort to finish up home projects and cook food at home (although, its been a while since we’ve been eating out regularly). Few of the things that we asked for from everybody who had our names for Christmas was all the components to make sushi. A rice cooker (a GOOD rice cooker and not those $20 crap kind), sushi rolling mats, and some fun sushi plates for the finished product.

I am a sushi addict. Before you get all huffy puffy, I know I’m not suppose to eat raw fish while I’m pregnant so the sushi selection is a little boring for the time being (that, and we’re land locked so it may be a while until I attempt raw on my own). For now we are making California rolls with crab salad, cooked spicy salmon, and last Friday we attempted to make our own shrimp tempura (which turned out awesome):

And here is some of the finished product (this is last weeks picture, but you get the point):

We even had enough left over that we rolled a few rolls for lunch on Saturday. SO GOOD.

On Saturday, we felt ambitious and decided to do some painting in out kitchen. I am a slow painter. I don’t like getting burned out on a project because I try to get it all done in one weekend. The hub’s and I decided to take our kitchen one wall at a time. It helps us to be productive on a weekend, but not completely take up our whole weekend with one project. We are a good team. Dustin washes the walls and tapes everything and I paint. It works.

Here is the before where every wall is practically stark white ^^^^^^^.

Here is the after with Eddie Bauer Woodsmoke from Lowe’s ^^^^^^. Next week we may attempt the wall with the refrigerator :/

We had a pretty typical Sunday. We went to church, I had a great Sunday School lesson with the 10/11-year-old kids, and then got to come home and relax. It was fabulous. For dinner I made a recipe I found on Pinterest: Orange chicken and Broccoli, and then I added some Quinoa.

It was delicious and light. Click Here for the recipe. And for those of you who are new to the world of Quinoa I used this tutorial the first time I made it.

Now I have a confession to make. Ever since I found out that I don’t have Gestational Diabetes I’ve been on a bit of a carb overload (and not the good kind). One thing that helps me to get motivation and get back on track is watching food documentaries. One of my favorites is Forks Over Knives. In case anybody wants to watch this excellent film it is on Netflix with Instaplay. One of the reason’s I love this film is that it focus’ purely on the health aspect of a plant-based diet. It gives facts and figures from years of research and it is not argumentative (like some documentaries which are totally biased). The information doesn’t feel in your face and the Dr’s seem genuinely concerned with their patients health. If you haven’t had a chance to watch it I highly suggest it!

Now I feel rejuvenated to get back on track with healthy eating, and some other things that I will be blogging about this week! I hope you all had as wonderful weekend as I did!

What is one of your weekend highlights?

PS. I got my Twitter account back up and running so if you were a follower before jump to my sidebar and follow me again (my handle is shrinkingcarrie). Thanks!

Idle Hands

I have a horrible tendency, if I’m not paying attention, to sit home all day with the TV tuned to TBS watching reruns of shows that I have seen dozens (or more!) times. I try to keep the background noise tuned to PBS for Hanna in the morning because for some reason Sesame Street is a comforting noise, but by the end of the day it always goes back to TBS.

What is it about the show “Friends” that makes it so I can’t turn the channel? I’ve seen each episode over 10 times (confession: WELL over 10 times each), but it feels like sinning when I turn the channel, or heaven forbid turn the entire TV OFF.

When I was in Utah last week and I was discussing the woes of being a Stay-at-home-mom with my own mom, and how I can let myself actually sit in front of the TV all day long and not accomplish one single task, she told me a secret to when she was a SAHM: Projects.

I know, it seems so simple yet I cannot pry myself away from Friends long enough to come up with some projects that I need to get done. So I have forced myself to sit down and come up with a list of things that I either need to get done, or would like to accomplish.

First off, I am not crafty. I mean, I AM crafty if I need to be, but I don’t want a house full of homemade displays and such, but there are plenty of projects I can do for Hanna that have nothing to do with my house. Of course I turned to my Pinterest arsenal and got to planning. The only thing is that I need a sewing machine for most of them (pffft. whatever sewing machine). I may have to see if I can borrow one from a friend.

Hanna has a quiet book that I let her play with in church and she loves it, but I think she is getting tired of the same old pages over and over again. So I’m going to add some fun pages that I found from this website:

I thought the potato head quiet pages look awesome and have loads of different playing possibilities.

I would also love to make her these felt “paper” dolls that can be found on this website:

Another suggestion that my mom had was to slowly paint my cupboards. I eventually would like to paint most of my house, but I am going to start with my kitchen cupboards, which I want white (right now they are grey). I think I can get it done with 1 gallon of paint so now I just have to start sanding them down. That should keep me busy.

Along with those things I would also like to:

Finish knitting the baby quilt I started when I found out I was pregnant with Hanna (I am NOT a procrastinator! Ok, maybe I am)
Start taking a weekly trip to the library since Hanna has FINALLY started letting me read books to her (this makes me so happy I could cry, I LOVE books!)
Peeling off all the labels to my old Kombucha glass bottles so that I can store bulk food items in them like shaved coconut, dried beans, lentils, and such.
Cleaning out my pantry so it makes sense.
Putting together a Vegan cookbook binder for all of my recipes that I have printed out and organizing them into categories.
Finish Divergent on audio book, and start another. My 2012 reading goal is happening this year!
Organize my Pinterest boards, which I find ironic.
Re-vamp my blog and give it a facelift. This WILL happen the next time I am in Utah with my Graphic Designer brother. And of course make it easier to navigate and organize it.
De-clutter the garage (this one may have to wait until next spring)
Go through Hanna’s room and re-arrange it, put old clothes in storage and get rid of some toys. I literally have not done anything to that childs room since we moved 4 months ago.

Along with that list I feel like I have LIVED in my kitchen the last few days so a recipe roundup will definitely be making its way for What I Ate Wednesday tomorrow. I will also have a recipe for a chocolate cheesecake that I will be sharing, but unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your eating philosophy) it has lots of dairy in it. I am making dinner for our church missionaries tonight and every time I suggest a Vegan dish my husband gives me the stink eye. On the menu: Chicken Enchilada’s with roasted green beans and Hershey’s Chocolate Cheesecake for dessert. Side note: Whatever is left after the missionaries leave goes in the trash, or to a neighbor (don’t you wish you loved by me). Here’s hoping my stomach doesn’t get too upset!

BTW: Dustin is doing stellar on his one week challenge so far!

Later friends!

7 Comments

by Shrinking Carrie on July 17, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Change, Distractions, Indulgence, Kombucha, Making It Happen, Planning

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on July 17, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/07/17/idle-hands/

WIAW: Recipe Round-up

I have been trying some fun recipes this past week, so instead of showing you essentially the same foods that I eat almost everyday here are some of the recipes I have tried and what I thought of them.

Thanks to Jenn over at Peas & Crayons for hosting this fun event every week!

I know it isn’t April anymore, but I just loved the Button for that month!

Mushroom Risotto with Carmelized Onions from Oh She Glows

On Monday I decided to try out a recipe that I have had on my meal plan for the last 6 weeks… Mushroom Risotto with Carmelized Onions!

Pic from Oh She Glows, click on pic to be taken to recipe

I used Oh She Glows photo because my photo did not do this recipe justice. The verdict: Delicious! I don’t think I have mentioned before that my hub’s has a serious love affair with mushrooms and he used to cook them in teriyaki sauce and eat them plain. I am not actually a huge fan of mushrooms, they definitely need to be cooked into something and these were perfect! I have also never tired barley before. A little chewy for my liking.

After plugging in the recipe to Livestrong.com I found that this recipe had WAY more calories than I thought it would have. It was around 850 per serving! The next time I make this recipe there will be a few changes:

Use water instead of oil to cook the onions in the first step.
Change the grain to brown rice. Barley has somewhere around 700 calories per cup (lesson learned, barley in small doses).
I switched the vegetable stock to chicken stock. I know this makes it not vegan, but switching over to vegetable stock could be a long process for me since I think it tastes like a**.
No Earth Balance. I have a feeling I wouldn’t even miss it.
Take the carmelized onions out all together. I know this is a part of the recipe title, but you have to use 3 tablespoons of oil and a lot of salt to make these and although they were yummy, they were not necessary, to me at least.
Two cartons of mushrooms. I thought one would be enough, but I was wrong.

This recipe would also make an amazing side dish for meat eaters. Has anyone ever heard of Consomme Rice? It is a healthier alternative to that recipe.

Smashed Chickpeas and Avocado Sandwich from Two Peas and Their Pod

Pic courtesy of Two Peas and Their Pod. Click pic to be taken to recipe

We had this for dinner last night. I know this is more of a lunch food (which I will be having the leftovers today for that very meal), but yesterday was pretty hot and the house was so warm that it was nice not to have to turn the oven or stove on. I am a big fan of tuna/chicken salad, and this hit the spot for that craving. I did add a large diced celery stalk to give it a little snap, and next time I would even go as far as to add a diced purple onion. This sandwich will definitely be making it into my lunch rotation.

I ate this salad with toasted wheat bread, and a side of baby carrots. The meal in total was 409 calories, and left me feeling very satisfied. Although the baby did eat one bite and turned her nose up at it. Can’t win ‘em all I guess.

Crazy Woman Chocolate Blender Pudding from Oh She Glows

I saved the best recipe for last. Let’s just say that I will ALWAYS have a frozen banana and avocado in the freezer from no on in case I get a craving.

Click pic to be taken to recipe

I have yet to make a vegan dessert, but I finally rectified that last night. I never know what to expect when I make some recipes. Pudding? Does it really taste like pudding? Because I really want something creamy and cold that doesn’t have any grit to it.

This recipe totally delivered.

It was amazing.

I embarrassingly admit that I licked my bowl clean.

Go. Run. Make. this. recipe. now.

I’d bet that you could even add some Pea Protein Powder for a kick of protein. And did I mention that it is good for you? One serving is 191 calories and I could easily pick it over ice cream, or use it for an ice cream craving. One serving is about 1 1/2 cups. ONE AND A HALF CUPS! If you ate 1 1/2 cups of Hagen Daaz it would put you somewhere in the range of 600-700 calories, and around 45 grams of fat. This recipe has 5 grams of fat, and they are from the delicious frozen avocado that makes this pudding oh. so.creamy.

So do yourself a favor. Make this recipe. As soon as humanly possible.

I hope you give these recipes a try! Happy Wednesday!

6 Comments

by Shrinking Carrie on May 9, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Addiction, Awesomeness, Good Food, Indulgence, Link Love, Recipes, WIAW

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on May 9, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/05/09/wiaw-recipe-round-up/

Small Victories

I’m back! It was a whirlwind of a trip, but it felt like the right amount of time, and we had so much fun spending time with family.

Hail to the conquering Graduate!

My Brother Tyler and his wife Master Angela (you’re suppose to call them Master after they receive their Master’s degree right? hehe)

Graduation day was 12 hours of craziness. Here’s the short version: Left the house at 10 for a two hour drive to Logan, UT. Baby threw up halfway through the drive. Stopped at Target to get new outfit since I forgot to bring extra’s. Got to Logan around 1:30 pm. Sat through a THREE HOUR graduation, which they called Angela’s name about fifteen minutes in. Tried to entertain the baby by walking around the school grounds for two hours. Drove back to Salt Lake and ate at the Cheesecake factory (after not having ANY food for almost 9 hours).

Ate a few buffalo wings, some calamari, and then I ordered the herb crusted salmon salad. Halfway through Dustin and I switched plates and I got to have some of his Bang Bang shrimp, which was AH-MAZING.

We got home exactly 12 hours from when we left that morning. To say we were tired would be an understatement.

On Saturday we got to do some totally unnecessary shopping where I got these babies as an early birthday present:

I have been dying to try these shoes out for weight lifting because I think the statement about a lower center of gravity is really important for keeping good form when lifting heavy weights.

When I started working out I wore Asics because they felt like you were walking on a cloud. Then I started having some pain on the top of my foot. I started wearing my Nike Free’s and the pain started to go away. I’m hoping that with even less under my feet they will feel even better. Here’s hoping! I plan on taking a walk with them outside today and seeing how they feel. I might even use my new Garmin just for funsies.

I didn’t eat terribly bad…..until the second half of Saturday. I failed on no creamy dressing the second day. We went to Brick Oven (a pizza and pasta restaurant). They have famous green Ranch dressing and I just couldn’t get a vinaigrette after seeing it’s creamy goodness. And then to top it off we went to Goodwood that night.

Yay, for blurry photo’s! And it was so cold that day that I had to wear my super awesome Statefarm sweatshirt.

Dustin and I decided that this meal put us over the tipping point. I had the worst heartburn that night, and I haven’t experienced that feeling in a LONG time. Then I got a HORRIBLE nights sleep when my child woke up and wouldn’t go back to sleep for 3 hours. I was ready to go home on Sunday, and so was my baby girl who slept for 2 1/2 hours on the way home:

I may or may not have taken the advice of my pediatrician and gave her 1/2 a teaspoon of Benadryl for the ride home, which BTW works wonders and I will NEVER travel without it. Yes, I am that mom.

Although it wasn’t an ideal healthy weekend I did have a few small victories. I followed my restriction plan to a T on Friday, which is HUGE for me. I also did a lot of walking. I didn’t go nuts when I ate out and I stuck to my no soda which is usually the first rule out the window.

Now I am just working on detoxing from all of the meat I consumed. My body is not use to eating like that anymore and so I’ve been doing a fast since 3:00pm yesterday and I will break it at dinner tonight. I can feel a lot of the food just sitting in my stomach like a rock. How many more times will I have to learn this lesson?

Back to the daily grind! Happy Monday!

3 Comments

by Shrinking Carrie on May 7, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Challenges, Events, Family, Indulgence, Shopping, vacation

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on May 7, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/05/07/small-victories/

Turn That Frown Upside Down

It is no secret that I have been experiencing a funk the last couple of months. With moving and basically getting my world turned upside down there has been a lot to get use to.

The last week my attitude has changed and it wasn’t from a mental perspective. It was from a materialistic perspective. There are some things that inner beauty just can’t take care of and sometimes it’s the vanity that helps pull me out of a funk. I am not a vain person by any means, but I do appreciate some of the little things in life, and here are three of them:

I finally got my hair done.

It has been a year and a half since I last got my hair did, and man was it time. In fact, I had no idea how bad it looked until after a cut and a highlight:

Please disregard the weird expression on my face. This is why I don’t take a lot of self-portraits, I feel like a goober.

When I was young my hair was so blonde it was white, and now I just don’t feel myself unless my hair is highlighted. I’ve been every color in the book and this is the one that is me. It is also the only color that softens the personality of my face. If you catch me in concentration mode I have a very mean expression on my face, and I have been told several times that people were scared of me until they got to know me. I really have to work on keeping a happy expression on my face, since people’s first impressions of me can be muddled. I also had about 5 inches of dead hair cut off, and it feels so good.

I gave myself a pedicure.

I don’t know about you, but I only get ONE pedicure a year, and it is in the middle of the spring when I am absolutely certain that it won’t snow again. This year I decided to save some money for the long run and by my own tools to give me a makeshift pedicure at home. I painted my nails a bright pinky/purple to get pumped for warm weather (even though it’s been overcast all week):

I said it on twitter and I’ll say it again, my toes are like fingers, and they are the thorn in my side when it comes to shoe shopping. But my mom says that if anybody needs someone to play the piano with their toes, they know who to call!

My hub’s thriftiness paid off.

While perusing the clearance section at Target on Saturday (which we have to do EVERY time we go to the mall), we came across this gem:

A Garmin Forerunner 405. Originally $219, and we paid….wait for it….$109.98!!!

I know that I don’t run yet, and have no need for this right this second, but my future goal is to start running (when I hit 220 pounds, I will start a C25K program) and eventually run a marathon. How often do you find such a steal of a deal?! Plus, it is helping to motivate me for my future goals and my hub’s won’t let me open it up until mother’s day. Happy Mother’s Day to me!

These things have seem to put a spring in my step and a smile on my face!

What is something that brightens your mood? And it most definitely DOES NOT have to be something of monetary worth, it just happens that this last week was an exception!

21 Comments

by Shrinking Carrie on May 1, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Awesomeness, Hair Styles, Indulgence, Shopping, Smile

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on May 1, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/05/01/turn-that-frown-upside-down/

A Loss and a Gain

‎”Things don’t go wrong and break your heart so you can become bitter and give up. They happen to break you down and build you up so you can be all that you were intended to be.”

Thank you again Livestrong.com for another inspiring Facebook status! I sure needed it after the past week.

In the wee hours of the early morning on Wednesday, Dustin, Hanna, and I set off for Las Vegas after getting news that Dustin’s Grandmother had a stroke. My husband has been truly blessed in his life, and although I do not feel it is my place to give out information about his past, I have to say that his family is amazing. In high school the Larsen/Beighley clan started feeding my husband, and ended up not being able to get rid of him. I call his family Dustin’s “surrogate” family, but to Dustin they are thicker than blood. So when his granny went to the hospital from pneumonia this past week, it was not a hard decision that we needed to be with the family.

After many twists and turns throughout this week Granny decided it was her time to go this morning. She (along with every. single. member of the Larsen/ Beighley Family) was one of the most selfless people I was blessed to know. She gave service to anyone who needed it and always put others before herself. I celebrate the life that she lived, and also the work in the after life that she will be doing. I am so blessed to know that there is a heaven above and a Heavenly Father waiting with open arms. I will miss you Granny, and I can’t wait until the time that we will meet again!

And in regards to the “gain” portion that I mentioned in the title….

In stressful times I eat. You can tell how stressed I am by the amount of food that I eat. This week started out great, and by Tuesday I was down 3 pounds ready to win this weeks weigh in for Monica’s Birthday Challenge, and then the week started to go South quickly. As soon as I knew we were going to be traveling I started to crave food. Spending time in a hospital made me crave food. Being in a place that had thousands of options to choose from made me crave food.

So what did I do? I ate. I ate my feelings. I ate my sadness. I ate my frustrations with eating too much by eating more.

And then I had a little break down, and a pity party for myself.

Then I put on my big girl panties and I weighed myself. If you do the crime, you do the time, and I needed to see the number that was going to show up:

That my friends is a 13 pound gain since the beginning of February. Wait. Wasn’t my goal to lose 5 pounds a month? Hmmm. I seem to be going the opposite direction.

I tried to tell myself it’s because I have only pooped twice in the last 5 days (going out of town in hard on my digestive track), or that I have a lot of water retention and salt hanging around in my system. While all of these things are true, and the weight loss will come quickly with those first few pounds once I get back on a healthy track, it is still a gain. It is still a step backward, and it is still frustrating. My first thought is that I have to come up with a plan of action, but the plan is simple and needs no long thought process. Track food. Exercise. Drink Water. Sleep 7-8 hours. Repeat.

4 Comments

by Shrinking Carrie on March 4, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Challenges, Commitment, Distractions, Dustin, Family, Food Binge, Frustration, Indulgence, Poop, Weigh in

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on March 4, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/03/04/a-loss-and-a-gain/

Recharged and Back to Basics

After an entire week of overindulging I have to say enough is enough. I feel that my healthy battery has been re-charged and I have seen my evil ways. It’s time to get back to basics.

Get on the scale. I have a fear of the scale when I have been naughty. Does anybody else do this? I need to face the music and seeing the number on the scale will start this week out where it needs to start. Besides, most of the weight will be water weight anyway and I should be able to get rid of most of it by the end of the week.
Re-start NROLFW. I need to have some sort of plan when I go to the gym and I don’t want to lose all of the muscle I gained when I did New Rules of Lifting for Women first time around. I am not going to wait for my move to start the program again, and I can let this program help me with the struggle I have been having with the gym lately. I am going to add a few more moves that aren’t in the book to keep it interesting. I am also going to get to the gym earlier. The longer I wait to go to the gym in the morning, the easier it is to talk myself out of going.
Track, Measure, Weigh, Repeat. I will be doing daily stat’s post for this next week since it seems to help me stay accountable for what I am eating. I will weigh and measure my food as exact as I can for this is the only way that I have seen positive results on the scale.
Drink lots of water. Flush out all the chocolate. Also, I haven’t been sweating as much at the gym and I think it’s because my water consumption has been lower and my salt intake has been higher.
Meal Plan, and then stick to the meal plan. I have been meal planning since the beginning of the year. It has helped with my eating and my budget, but lately it seems that I have made a plan and then not stuck to it. Some of the dinners that I had planned on making just didn’t sound good when it came time to make them. The fact is, when you eat fat, sugar, and salt, you crave fat, sugar, and salt. It may be a rough couple of days getting back on track, but sticking to my meal plan is a sure-fire way to get there.
Positivity. So I lost a week, that’s ok. The important part is that I start again. I forgive myself for the foods that I have eaten, and I tell myself that I am a strong woman who can do hard things. I know I can get back on track, I just need to re-focus my energy in the right area’s.

I am only going to get more stressed out in the upcoming weeks with the move coming on and I can’t let it completely de-rail me. It is just another excuse hurdle that I need to jump over. Life will always get in the way of weight loss and conditions will never be perfect, so I have to keep pushing everyday.

This Week’s Meal Plan:

Monday: Tomato Basil “Cream” Pasta

Click picture to link to Oh She Glows (this is also Angela's Picture)

Tuesday: Meatless Fajita’s. This is a fast and easy recipe where I just removed the meat entirely from the meal. I sauté green peppers and a red onion with fajita seasoning and then put over black beans and brown rice. Top with mashed avocado and it is a yummy plant-based dinner.
Wednesday: Butternut Squash Soup:

Click picture to link with All Recipes.com (picture is also from allrecipes.com

Thursday: Breakfast for dinner. Does anybody else LOVE breakfast for dinner?

Click picture to link to Oh She Glows for recipe (picture credit is also Angela's)

Friday: Vegan Combo Pizza. I will be trying out non-dairy cheese and non-animal pepperoni for the first time. Dustin is thrilled (insert sarcasm font).
Saturday: Planned date night where we get to go out to eat.
Sunday: Meat meal for the week, Healthy Hamburger Helper. Dustin and I have been huge fans of Hamburger Helper since we have been married so when Janetha over at Meals and Movesfigured out a way to make it healthy I had to try it out (plus, Dustin deserves some meat at least once a week for being so obliging to my weird eating habits I’ve picked up).
Click picture to link to recipe (Photo credit goes to Janetha over at Meals and Moves)

So there is my plan for a successful week! How do you set yourself up for success?

5 Comments

by Shrinking Carrie on February 19, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Challenges, Change, Daily Stats, Diet, Distractions, Goals, Indulgence, Meal Planning, Plant Based Diet

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on February 19, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/02/19/recharged-and-back-to-basics/

Friday Night Pizza…A Possible Comeback

Sweat it Out:
Spin Class 45 Minutes

When I was young one of our family night traditions was Friday night pizza night. My mom would make homemade pizza and we would rent a few movies to watch. It was a total couch fest, and some good quality bonding time with the fam.

One of the things I have noticed while I have been eating my plant based diet is that there is not a lot of room for indulgence (this is not necessarily a bad thing). I have been craving pizza like crazy lately, and of course because of the cheese and some of the pizza toppings I couldn’t indulge in one of my favorite foods.

Until last night.

I have found a lot of joy in finding new recipe’s online to try, and I have found a kindred spirit (in regards to tastebuds) in the blog world. Oh She Glows has become my go-to for delicious plant based recipes.

Back to this amazing pizza…

I’m not going to lie, there was an actual PDF attachment for this recipe and it was almost 4 pages long. After not watching tv ALL DAY, I was up for a cooking challenge and so I got my appliances ready to make something amazing.

I had actually pre-made the dough in the morning and let it rise most of the day. I found the secret to good dough is 2 teaspoons italian blend spice (to die for!). And olive oil, lots and lots of olive oil. Side note: I have used almost an entire half gallon of olive oil in the past couple of months (crazy!).

This recipe was called: Roasted Tomato, Onion, Basil, Pesto Pizza, with Vegan Parmesan Cheese (and then I added some roasted artichokes and black olives). There was a separate recipe for each step, the dough, the roasted vegetables, vegan parmesan cheese, and pesto sauce. I have never really tried pesto, so I didn’t know what to expect. I am glad that I tried it, for I don’t want to know a world without pesto again.

I won’t go into too much more detail since this is not MY recipe, but if you want to try out this seriously delicious and guilt-free recipe head on over to ohsheglows.com and print out the recipe, you will not be sorry (and please don’t compare how perfect looking her pizza is and how NOT perfect mine is)!

Finished Product!

I underestimated the vegetables and would have put a LOT more on in the future! Also, this recipe makes a lot of pesto. If you are serving 2, you could definitely split this into 2 dinners. Tonight we will be having pesto pasta with what is left over.

Now I am off to have leftovers for lunch, yum!

Do you have a weekly family tradition that you have fond memories of?

Do you like Pesto?

6 Comments

by Shrinking Carrie on January 28, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Good Food, Indulgence, Plant Based Diet, Recipes, Tradition, Vegan, Vegetables

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on January 28, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/01/28/friday-night-pizza-a-possible-comeback/

I am Thankful for 24 Days….

Sweat it Out:
Elliptical 1 Hour (Tuesday’s Workout)

I am actually thankful all year round, but for the month of November I am going to try to focus on one thing I am thankful for everyday. Not every day is going to be insightful and deep. In fact, yesterday I was thankful that I have not been sick. It seems everyone has, or is getting over a cold and I have been blessed to not have one yet (although I fear I am jinxing myself by just saying that).

Today I am thankful for vegetables. After gorging on Halloween candy my body is SCREAMING for some nutrition!

New Month New Goals!!!

Each month I try to make 5 goals to accomplish for the month, and after birthday parties and Halloween, I am ready to clean the slate and start anew!

1. Remember that the holiday is one day each month, and not the WHOLE month! I don’t know about you guys, but the holidays are just a big blurry eating fest, but really there are only about 4 days that you ACTUALLY celebrate.

Halloween: Over and done with, thank goodness!
Thanksgiving: Coming faster every year it seems. One day a year to stuff yourself silly? Totally doable as long as you dont’ stuff yourself the entire month of November.
Christmas Eve/Christmas: Those two days should count as 1 day, and this year I will be in Arizona visiting my brother. So there will be no snow outside to excuse myself from exercise.
New Years Eve/New Years Day: New Years day should be a day to wipe the slate clean and focus on goals for the New Year! But watch yourself on New Year’s Eve. Luckily, I do not drink alcohol, so a sugar hangover will be the only thing I will be suffering from.

So the theme of this goal is to indulge on the holiday not the entire month. There is no reason to get off track and overeat the entire holiday season!

I am realistic in thinking that it is ok to eat fun holiday food…..on the holiday. Ok, nuff said.

2. Eat more vegetables. I really like veggies, they are just not as convenient as fruit. One great thing is that we are finally getting another Sam’s Club membership (we have no Costco, BLAST!), and that helps me to buy produce in bulk. I find this method works for me because it is cheaper, readily available, and already prepared, for the most part. It will make it easy to roast some veggies for lunch if I know I don’t have to wash, cut, and prepare them. just throw them in the oven and go.

3. Finish Phase 4 of “The New Rules of Lifting for Women”. This goal should be easy to accomplish considering I am LOVING weightlifting right now. I am also LOVING the program, so no unrealistic expectations there!

4. List one thing a day that I am thankful for. Whether big or small we can always find something to be thankful for and this is the month of counting your blessings!

5. Learn the Body Bugg system and figure out goals to go along with it. My Body Bugg should get here on Friday and I am counting down the minutes. My last goal for the month is to learn the system, figure out my calorie burn to calorie consume deficit, and start tracking!

What is a goal that you have for the month of November?
Do you struggle with the Holiday season and overeating? If not, what helps you at this time of year?

7 Comments

by Shrinking Carrie on November 2, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in Fall, Goals, Holiday, Indulgence

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on November 2, 2011

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2011/11/02/i-am-thankful-for-24-days/

I <3 Weightlifting

I just realized after all of the craziness that last week brought, I forgot to do a “The New Rules of Lifting for Women” Phase 3 re-cap! I also regret to inform, but have to admit, I totally had my fair share of Halloween candy yesterday. I could count on both hands how many trick-or-treaters we got, and I am afraid I am going to have to freeze all of our leftover candy, and put it in the deepest depths of my deep freezer in the garage. Hopefully I forget about it.

If you want to read a great article that will make you feel bad for eating Halloween Candy click here. It was eye opening what sugar does to your body!

NROLFW Phase 3!

I loved this phase and think that it is the best thus far. It focused a lot more on the upper body, which was a great switch up from Phase 2 which was mostly legs. the problem I am finding with all of the phases is that when I have a full body move, like the squat and snatch, I can either work my legs really well or my arms, but never both.

The workouts were a lot quicker than phase 2 and found myself finishing up at around the 30 minute mark. Unfortunately, I found out that I missed a whole section of the workout!!! At the end of Workout A there is a whole Body Matrix section with Squats/Jump Squats and Lunges/Split Jump Lunges. I can’t believe I missed that part!

I have already decided that I am going to do the entire program over again once I have finished. I would love to see how far I’ve come, and maybe by then I will be able to do a plank without having to modify it!

Onto Phase 4!

Phase 4, Day 1, Workout A:

This is what Monday’s workout looked like (normally I would post pictures, but I have decided that I need to respect the authors of this book, and instead recommend going to Amazon and purchasing it for cheap!)

Front Squat Push Press: 3 sets of 10, 40 Pounds
Step Up: 3 Sets of 10, 35 Pounds
Dumbbell One-point Row: 3 Sets of 10, 30 Pounds
Static Lunge, Rear Foot Elevated: 3 Sets of 10, 22 Pound bar. My legs finally feel like they are getting stronger, and my form is MUCH better than when I started the program! I love seeing progress!
Push-ups: 3 Sets of 10, Bodyweight modified to knees. The last phase didn’t have any push up reps, so I was excited to see them come back into the mix.
Plank: 3 sets of 60 second holds, modified to knees
Cable Horizontal Wood Chop: 3 Sets of 10, 50 Pounds

After taking the week off from weight lifting last week I was ready to get back to my home gym so that I could rip into Phase 4. These last couple of months while doing this program I have found a love for weights! I use to be a cardio girl all the way, but I am now finding that when you lift with a routine and combine certain moves you can get a sweaty workout while pumping some iron!

PS. I’m hoping to get in a spin class today so wish me luck with motivation!