A month of stuff!

WOW!  How does a month go by without a post?  I hate to say it but boy am I slacking!

The past month has been SUPER busy.  June is notoriously crazy for me every year, as almost every person I know is a Gemini or a Gemini cusp, including me.  That's right, I recently celebrated my 30th birthday!  Goodbye 20's hello to a new decade of my life.  There are no pictures from the event, however let me tell you my partner planned a party that was perfect for me.  The theme of the whole day was "A kids party for an old lady".  We started the day rollerskating for an hour and a half at Roller World, in Saugus.  I had almost every birthday party there as a child, making it a total trip down memory lane.  (I always think about Bobby Cincotta with the fork in his nose....anyone else remember that?)  After skating we had a BBQ at my mom's house.  Alex created an atmosphere of fun and relaxation, which is what I wanted.  There were goody bags (Complete with toy dinosaurs, glow bracelets, Buffy the Vampire Slayer pins, and vodka nips), stick the horn on the unicorn game, and a crafting table for people to put birthday wishes on sheets of paper.  We are going to put all the wishes on a canvas and hang them in the house.  Gotta love craft projects!

The highlight of the day was the fact that Alex surprised me by driving 45 minutes, each way, to a bakery in Salem, NH called Chatila's Bakery for a sugar-free birthday cake and sugar-free / gluten-free cheesecake.  Both were super tasty and beautiful.  I have got to say, I am a very lucky girl.

Otherwise, I have been working my tail off, going to birthday parties for my friends, going to concerts (Dave Matthews Band is ALWAYS amazing live by the way), and trying new recipes.

I made an Italian style casserole that is reminiscent of baked ziti and stuffed peppers mixed together.  Thank you again for the inspiration Michelle from The World According to Eggface.  Her creations inspire my cooking so much and give me a place to start from and then build upon.  So my "stuffed pepper casserole" was almost exactly a combination of these 2 recipes:  Un-stuffed Pepper Casserole and Shelly's Turkey Stuffed Peppers.  Make the Un-Stuffed Casserole but put mushrooms, zuccini, and summer squash into the mix.  And instead of ground Turkey, I used leftover rotisserie chicken that I cubed.  Alex LOVED this one.

She also liked this pizza I made today.  It needs a name, but for now I'm calling it


Linz's Kitchen Sink Pizza

1 Ezekiel 4:9® 6 inch Whole Grain Flour-less Tortilla 

(I got them at Hannaford's Market but you can go to their website and look up the stores that carry the brand)

2 TBLS Tomato Sauce

3 slices of deli smoked ham (HIllshire Farms)

1/4 of a cup of leftover sautéed veggies  

(I had zucchini, summer squash, onions, mushrooms and garlic left over from the above casserole)

1/4 cup shredded Cheddar/Mozzarella Cheese

1/2 a Haas Avocado

A few squirts of hot sauce (I use Red Hot but any will do)

 A light dusting of Grated Parmesan Cheese

Again, I follow the instruction that Michelle at the Eggface blog give's .  If you do exactly what she says you will throughly enjoy any food you find at her blog.  Go check it out and enjoy her ideas.

So, the nitty gritty.  I hit 210lbs yesterday.  That means I have lost 85lbs since January 18th, 2010.  (5 months for those of you who are counting)  I'm in a size 18 and have gotten rid of everything but 1/8th of my original wardrobe.  Luckily, I was a clothing hoarder and kept things that I haven't worn since college, literally. I've also been lucky enough to have a number of people in my life who have gone through their own weight journey recently who have given me clothing that they can no longer use.  This is the smallest I have been since my sophomore year at Regis College.  That was 11 years ago!  

Here is a recent picture ...

Yup, that's a red cup.  I'm pre-gaming for the Dave Matthews Band Concert.  I can handle a single alcoholic drink now which is also really, REALLY nice.  An as for my little man Luna...

He can't handle his alcohol yet either...You have got to love being a cat!

My Latest Obsession

One word:  Casseroles!

So I've been looking into new food ideas.  I REALLY need protein so I've been reading various blogs and looking in cookbooks and in the end I got desperate and decided to purchase a rotisserie chicken and some Frenches Fried Onions. 

Yeah.....not much right? Well, when mixed with a bunch of stuff from my freezer and pantry and then baked, OMG!  So tasty!  I ate about a half a cup of the finished casserole and still had a TON of left overs.  In fact I had so much left over I have 4 servings in the freezer and had eaten it for lunch yesterday and today.  I have to tell you, it sounds kinda nasty, but I am telling you it's SUPER YUMMY!  And, for you post ops out there, the chicken was so moist that I had NO problems with it, and I always have trouble with chicken.

This is what you've been waiting for...the recipes!

Mexican Chicken and Veggie Casserole

2 rotisserie chicken breasts (Skin removed, cubed)
1/2 a medium Spanish Onion
1 TBLS chopped Garlic
1 TBLS Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 bag of frozen mixed veggies (I used Shaws Brand Ranchero Mexican Veggies)
1 TBLS Cumin (Add more or less to taste)
1 TBLS Chili Powder (Add more or less to taste)
Black Pepper and "No Salt" to taste
1 Pinch of Cayenne Pepper
1 can Low Sodium Cream of Chicken Soup
1 can Mild Green Chilies
1/4 cup of Chicken Broth
1 cup of salsa
1 cup of shredded cheese
3/4 cup of Frenches Fried Onions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Warm the oil in a high walled saute pan.  Once the oil is warm, add the onion and cook until transparent.  Add the garlic, and chicken. Stir and cook until chicken is warm.  Add chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper stir until combined. Add bag of frozen veggies and cook until the veggies are warmed through.

In a separate bowl, mix the Cream of Chicken Soup, Green Chilies, and Chicken Broth.   Once veggie mixture is all warmed up add the liquid mixture. Stir until well combined.   Add more broth if the mixture is too thick.  (The liquids should spread just slightly when filling is pulled away from the pan.

Once everything is warmed though, pour the mixture into a casserole dish, top with the salsa, cheese and onions.  Bake for 30 - 35 minutes until bubbling.  Serve yourself a half cup of the mixture.

I'm telling you, this is SOOOO GOOD!  I made one tonight that was curry.  Same basic ideas but instead of the Cream of Chicken mixture I mixed Curry Paste and Greek Yogurt with a bit of Chicken Broth, skipped the cheese and salsa and used Indian spices instead of the Mexican ones. 


Chicken Curry Casserole

(I couldn't wait so I took a scoop out before I blogged.  It smelled so good)

2 rotisserie chicken breasts (Skin removed, cubed)
1/2 a medium Spanish Onion
1 TBLS chopped Garlic
1 TBLS Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 bag of frozen mixed veggies (I used butternut squash, spinach, Asian stir-fry small bags or just half of each)
1 TBLS Cumin (Add more or less to taste)
1 TBLS Cardamom (Add more or less to taste)
3 Bay Leaves
Black Pepper and "No Salt" to taste
1/4cup Mild Curry Paste
2, 7oz. containers of Greek Yogurt (I used 1 Fage 0% and 1 Fage 2%)
1/4 cup of Chicken Broth
3/4 cup of Frenches Fried Onions

Follow the same directions as above.  You will LOVE THEM!

Thanks to Michelle at The World According to Eggface for inspiring me to be more creative with my cooking AND for sharing her casseroles which gave me something to base my recipes on.

Pouchy Tastiness

I had such a tasty dinner this evening.
After attempting a cold cut rollup...roast beef and turkey...I almost instantly felt sick to my belly. Alex got to finish that, and I got to continue making dinner.

Dinner tonight: Baked Salmon with dill, lemon and scallions. YUMMY!  The meal is super high in protein AND super tasty. I cook these in packets, parchment paper covered in aluminum foil. Oh, and did I mention that it is also super easy to make too.

Put a piece of parchment paper on top of a piece of foil. Place your salmon on the parchment. Put a tsp of extra virgin olive oil on the fish. Chop the dill up and place a TBLS of dill on your salmon. Chop up a scallion and put that on top of the dill. Slice 3 or 4 rounds of lemon and place them on top of the scallions. A touch of salt and pepper and then close up the packets.

Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Take out of the oven and squeeze a little fresh lemon juice on it. Enjoy!

I ate this with a cucumber salad with protein rich dill yogurt dressing which I got here. Thanks Eggface for the tastiness yet again!