Summer is not over yet….have a dessert

One of the best parts about summer time is that the produce section is full of berries.

Red berries, blue berries, black berries, strawberries…… Berries, berries, berries!

This is my quick go to sweet fix in the summer time. It’s like a strawberry shortcake but so much better than that!

You will need:

• 1 dessert shell
• 1 handful of blueberries
• 1 handful of raspberries
• 1 large spoonful of sliced strawberries with its juice
• 2 TBSP of fat free cool whip

Directions:

Simple…

1. Prior to this you’ve already taken your strawberries, sliced them up and poured just a tad bit of sugar on them so they could form their own juices.
2. Place a dessert shell in a bowl.
3. Top with all listed fruit and the juice from the strawberries
4. Top it all off with cool whip and dig right in!

Happy hump day y’all!

Current favorite food log/fitness apps

I am an app hoarder, I will admit it. (that's the first step right?) I see a new app, I can’t help it. I go into full download mode. Even if there is a chance that I will not open that app again, I struggle with deleting it. But when I find a good one, one that I like and does everything I need, I keep it around and it moves to my favorites page. Here is a run down of a few of my favorite fitness apps that have made it to my home page.

1.  Pts. Plus Diary

 

This is by far the one I use the most. It is very similar to the way I counted points when I originally participated in the weight loss study. Even though I know point values without needing to look them up, this is a new electronic way for me to keep up with how many points I’ve used for the week. There is an option for daily points too but since I never learned that system, I couldn’t tell you how to use it. I only use the bonus points section and the workout log section.

2.  My fitness pal

I see so many people use this app that I had to download it just to see what it could offer me. I eventually became a fan and now I use it almost daily (unless I forget) to log what I eat. My favorite part of this app is to add my own personal recipes to it so I can see the nutritional information of that recipe and calculate points for it. I also like to see how many calories I am eating daily and my percentage of certain nutrients I am getting daily.

3.  C25K free

About two years ago, I think, I wanted to try my hand in running. I would read blogs of women finding this thing called a runners “high” and it caught my attention. I signed up for our local Susan B Komen Race for the Cure, which is very dear to my heart, having cancer survivors in my family, some here and some gone. I needed a program to get me started so I came across this app and it worked beautifully. I have bad knees so it allowed me to gradually work up to running a 5k successfully. I’ve ran in several since my first one. My next challenge is a half marathon…… but lets finish school first :)

4. RockMyRun – hands down my favorite!

This is my favorite app to work out to even if I am not running. The DJ’s mixes kill any work out! It tells you bpm per mix and there are several different varieties of music, styles and times. So whatever you need to get you going, this app has it! Oh and I won a summer prize pack from them a few months ago too, so that just solidified my love for the even more!

I was not paid to give a review on any of theses apps, this is just my wonderful opinion. Whether there is anyone out there reading or not, I wanted to share what I’ve found to be affective and helpful. There are tons of fitness apps out there. Explore a few, read the reviews and find the ones that will be the most helpful for you in your fitness journey. Smart phones have taken over everything so why not use them to your advantage. You can pretty much do everything you used to do on paper, on your smart phone. Even if you don’t have a handy dandy smart phone, most of the apps have websites you can also use on your home computer.

Enjoy your day guys!

Mondays, oh Mondays…..

As sad as the kids are that summer is coming to a quiet end, I am shouting from the rooftops ~ Hip Hip Horary!

God I love ‘em but have mercy on my pantry! As quickly as I can fill it up, it is emptied. If you don’t have teenagers yet, just way my friend, just you wait!

Alls they do is eat, every question of the day begins with “what is there to eat?”. They see NOTHING. I see a fridge full of fruits, veggies, sandwiches in the making, and yummy leftovers just to name a few.

Also, the countdown to the first day of school has begun along with the nerves of a new 9th grader! We are keeping it simple again this week because mama bear is still enjoying her vaca from school! Woohoo!

Our menu is light and easy. Have a great week guys!

• Monday - Spaghetti/Salad/veggies/bread
• Tuesday – Leftovers
• Wednesday – Tacos
• Thursday – Breakfast for dinner
• Friday – French Bread pizza (didn’t make last week)
• Saturday – Grilled burgers and hotdogs/grilled corn on the cob/homemade potato salad

Mexican Pizza

I don’t know how it ended up being Friday so quickly. I feel like it was just Monday, like yesterday.

I’m sure glad we are here though – so to all my fellow Friday lovers – Happy TGIF!

I feel so accomplished this week because I finished my second semester in my quest to finish school! I cannot tell you how excited I am to have a break, even if it is only for 2 weeks! I’ll take what I can get right! Being the fact that I cannot believe it is Friday should just tell you how oddly busy my week was. I don’t even remember day to day what happened really. Except for the fact that Wednesday night we had no electricity until 3:30 in the morning! Odd power outage that only affected 8 houses in my neighborhood…… the kids said “Um did you forget to pay the bill?'” Me – No (giggling but now second guessing whether I actually did or not…..)

Anyway one day this week, or last week, now they all run together, I made this Mexican pizza.

Oh my word! I was in heaven when I read Mexican and Pizza and they were together in the same sentence! I promise you that this recipe will not leave anyone at the table disappointed, unless they don’t like Mexican food, or pizza.

So go gather up your food lovers, sit down at the dinner table and enjoy a good meal!

{Printable Link}

To do this you need to go get the following…

• 1lb lean ground beef
• 1/2 packet taco seasoning
• 1/3 cup of water
• 10 fajita size soft taco shells
• 1 can fat free refried beans (or you can make your own)
• Old Elpaso mild taco sauce
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 green onion, diced
• Olives –totally optional (you see I didn’t use them)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. Spray 2 baking sheets with non stick spray. place 5 tortillas on each sheet and place in the oven for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes flip the tortillas over, while still in the oven and cook for another 5 minutes until they are slightly golden and crisp around the edges. Remove and set aside when done.
3. In a large skillet, brown your ground beef. Add your taco seasoning and water, bring to a boil, let simmer and stir for about ten minutes.
4. In a medium bowl, warm up your refried beans in the microwave until they are warm all the way through.
5. Spread a thin layer of refried beans on 5 tortillas, add a layer of ground beef mixture and top off with another tortilla shell.
6. Spread 2 TBSP of the taco sauce on top of each tortilla shell. Next add cheddar and mozzarella cheeses on top of that. Sprinkle each with tomato, cilantro and green onions (or olives if you like those).

Enjoy your dinner!

Enjoy your weekend!

Enjoy your shopping if you have kids going back to school!

Original recipe adapted from here!