Freezer Cooking - Menu Plan Aug 30

With the weekend fairly open, I decided to sit down with my cookbooks and favorite websites and create some menus for the upcoming weeks. I didn't have anything fancy in mind - just some meals in the fridge, some in the freezer and my mind at ease.

A few years ago I was in a freezer cooking group with some awesome cooks like Karen Riggenbach, Holly Mason and Elizabeth Baker. Karen & Holly always knew just what to do and I took advantage of the opportunity to learn how to cook under their tutelage as well as use the time to bond with some fantastic women that I love and admire. Our little group hasn't cooked together in quite some time even though I still have a tub of spices and condiments in my basement just in case the group should ever decide to cook again. Then again, maybe most of that stuff needs to be just thrown out by now.

I learned about freezer cooking when I attended Hearts at Home, a Christ-centered organization for moms. Since cooking has never been a favorite activity of mine, I decided to give it a try. I bought a book called the "Freezer Cooking Manual" from 30 day Gourmet.  I planned my first freezer cooking day and just happened to mention it to my friend, Elizabeth, who joined me on my first adventure into freezer cooking. Our group expanded to include Karen & Holly and we eventually purchased a software package from 30 day Gourmet called Advantage Cooking. The Advantage Cooking software will create various worksheets for you to use such as a grocery shopping list, recipe inventory to keep track of what you have in the freezer, and even sorts recipes by appliances used (i.e. crock pot or stove top).

On Saturday, I spent the day trolling through recipes. This is what I came up with.

Beef Entrees						Quantity			Servings
		Crock Pot Enchiladas						2	serves 8
		Make-ahead Chimichangas						2	makes 16
		Roast						2	use for French Dip Sandwiches
		Sweet & Sour Meatballs						1	serves 4-6
Breads and Breakfast						Quantity			Servings
		Breakfast Burritos						2	makes 12
		Orange Rainsin Bran Muffns						1	12
		Sausage & Cheese Breakfast Casserole						1	12
		Sweet Potato Pancakes						1	serves 4
Pork and Fish Entrees						Quantity			Servings
		English Pizzas						1	serves 6
Poultry Entrees						Quantity			Servings
		Cashew Chicken						2	serves 6
		Crockpot Sweet & Sour Chicken w/mango						2
		Grilled Sesame Chicken						2	serves 6
Sides and Salads						Quantity			Servings
		Broccoli Casserole						2	serves 4-6
		Fruit and Nut Cous Cous						1	serves 6
Snacks and Desserts						Quantity			Servings
		Good-for-You Granola						1	makes 12 cups
Soups and Sandwiches						Quantity			Servings
		Mango gazpacho w/shrimp and avocado						1	serves 2

Now, not everything got made today, but Camo-Man prepared the Sausage & Cheese Breakfast Casserole so I can just pop it in the oven in the morning. We made up 2 meals each of crock pot enchiladas, Make-ahead Chimichangas, Cashew Chicken, Grilled Sesame Chicken, and sweet & sour meatballs and proudly stored them in the freezer until they are needed. I also whipped up the Good-For-You Granola for a snack as well. Tomorrow we're going to have Crockpot Sweet & Sour Chicken with mango. I'll put one in the crock pot in the morning and one in the freezer for later. Tomorrow night and Wednesday we'll cook up the breakfast burritos (since I bought the wrong sausage anyway), orange raisin bran muffins and sweet potato pancakes.

My plan may not be perfect, but it's a start. I feel so much better knowing I have something on hand to feed my family - something nutritious and easily prepared. For some reason, I'm not one of those women who have a long list of tried and true recipe to fall back on. I rarely make the same thing twice. Why? Because I'll find some recipe, make it and then never find it again. The Advantage Cooking software has helped me plan meals and organize my recipes. I only wish I could nutritional information out of it as well, but maybe that will be in the next upgrade.

So that's my plan and I'm sticking to it. What do you have planned for dinner this week?

Recipe:Garlic Pita Chips

I am constantly looking for some good recipes to replace the processed foods that my dear husband seems to think he "needs" in his lunch. I understand the desire to crunch and munch, but hate thinking about all of the unnecessary and unhealthy additives that food manufacturer's put into our food. I found a recipe for Garlic Pita Chips from MyRecipes.com. I think I might give this a try and see if my two picky eaters: Sunshine & Diva Princess will take the bait!

Belly Fat - Location, Location, Location (Pt 1)

Not all fat is created equal. Fat can be stored throughout one’s body, but the most critical factor is location, location, location. Abdominal fat, or visceral fat, lies beneath the stomach muscles and affects the body’s critical organs such as the pancreas and liver. Visceral fat is also known as toxic fat because it causes insulin, the hormone responsible for storing fat, to become less effective, making you more susceptible to diabetes.

Study after study shows that visceral fat increases your risk of many critical diseases, such as hypertension, cancer, dementia and heart disease. A waist which measures more than 32 inches increases your risk of diabetes.  Women whose waists measure more than 35 inches are twice as likely to die of heart disease as women whose midsections measure 28 inches or less.

Visceral fat also seriously affects the liver. The liver is responsible for detoxing one’s body and filtering out harmful substances. When the liver is surrounded by visceral fat, it has a harder time eliminating all of the toxins in the body. One disease associated with visceral fat around the liver is NASH (Non-Alcoholic SteatoHepatitis), or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which is basically what killed my mother.

Because of my family history of diabetes and fatty liver disease – and being a family of apples instead of pears, I am constantly fighting belly bulge. Several articles I’ve read recently state that abdominal fat is the easiest fat to lose. Statements such as these drive me crazy:

Penny Kris-Etherton, PhD, RD stated in a Web MD article, “Visceral fat, the kind tucked deep inside your waistline, is more metabolically active and easier to lose than subcutaneous fat under the skin, especially if you have plenty of it."  

Really? Cause my personal several year study says otherwise. Yes, as soon as I get back into an exercise routine, I can instantly tell a difference in the way my jeans fit around the waist, but the muffin top still remains. 

The fat keeps hanging on like a big, old smelly tire around my belly.

Recently, I read another article about belly fat which may help to explain the never ending cycle of the belly bulge

When under stress, your body releases stress hormones including cortisol. When your body remains constantly stressed and cortisol levels remain high, your body prepares for a hardship, or starvation, and begins storing fat in your body. When in this hardship mode, your body will even take fat from healthier areas, such as your butt or hips, and move the fat to your abdomen, where more cortisol receptors are located. Your body will then turn healthy peripheral fat into visceral fat, increasing inflammation and insulin resistance in your body.

As you can see, it’s a never ending cycle! And this is simply how cortisol works in a normal person's body. How does diabetes affect that never ending cycle? 


Stay tuned and we'll see. 

Call me a WHINO

Yes, the week of the guinea pig continues. In the last week, I've tried eating the following snacks before bed:

• Popcorn - My all time favorite snack. I could crunch and munch on it forever. However, it didn't really help my bs reading which 129 in the morning.
• Almonds & Oatmeal Squares - I tried a protein and carb combination wondering if the protein would help since it takes longer for your body to process Nope, BS = 127 in the morning
• Glass of red wine - I read on one of the forums at Diabetes Daily about a T2 diabetic who drank a glass of red wine before bed each night and it really helped his/her morning readings. Me? BS = 107
• Bud Light Lime - Last night after our board meeting, a few of us went to our local awesome restaurant, Perdue's Grill, and had an adult beverage. My drink of choice was Bud Light Lime. What do you think happened? BS = 102 (It is also important to note that during the meeting I tried to say no to the cookies I bought for the board members, but they were Reese's Pieces Cookies and they called out my name towards the end of the night. Who am I to deny them?)

So after a week's experiment, I've come to the conclusion that I can no longer deny my alcoholic roots. I must give in to the call of the moonshine and drink.....and drink lots of it. Or maybe, possibly a better plan would be to continue my cute little experiment and see what else comes out of all this. 

The one question I've begun to ponder is how am I supposed to lose weight if I can't go more than a couple of hours without eating? I've had the most success in losing weight when I go to bed slightly hungry. Do I eat more, smaller meals? Should I spread out my calories throughout the day better? Ugh, my head hurts just thinking about it. Which do I need to balance more? Calories? Carbs? Blood Sugars? OH MY!

GFTW Giveaway: $150 Athleta Giftcard!

Because I've been looking for some new workout gear, I've been salivating over the Athleta line of clothes. Their workout clothes are so cute! And to top it off, I discovered I needed a new bathing suits one day after a training workout. The chlorine had eaten its way through my training swim suit right in the middle of my butt crack! Oh my word! I was really hoping my lifeguard staff didn't see my humongo butt cheek through my nearly mesh black suit. PLEASE! So, I am hoping to win this Athleta Giftcard, but I will be nice and share and hope that if I can't win, maybe one of my friends will win instead. So, follow the link and take a chance. You just might win! Goals for the Week!: The BIG Giveaway: $150 Athleta Giftcard!

Abe's Amble Race Report

Knock this one off of the Race Bucket List

On Sunday, August 22, I returned to my hometown to run in the 2010 Abe's Amble. It's a 10k race which according to the race reviews I've read  is pretty dang hilly. I hope I don't spoil it for you when I say they weren't lying.

I'm not quite sure why this race was such a big deal for me. I guess growing up in the Springfield area I've always heard about it. Living in the land of Honest Abe, I've always had to participate or visit virtually every site which is even remotely related to our 16th President. Plus, how much better could it get? The race starts at the Illinois State Fairground out the main gates around Lincoln Park and through Oak Ridge Cemetery (Abe's final resting place) and then back to the fairgrounds. I could combine all of my passions: Genealogy, History and Physical Fitness.

Because of my newly found nutrition awareness, I arrived at the fairgrounds armed with a water bottle and a banana. In the last couple of months, I've run two different hilly races and wound up with cramps in my calves at Steamboat Classic and hamstrings at the Lakeland Bi-Tri Classic. Because I knew Abe's Amble was also a hilly race, I brought the water bottle to get nice and hydrated and banana for the nutrition - and the extra bonus of potentially controlling my blood sugar.

Awesome Cheryl & I arrived at 7 am with plenty of time to make a pit stop. We like to laugh at all of the hard core runners who are warming up jogging up and down the fairway. Us? We just walk and talk and watch people. We found ourselves a nice middle-of-the-pack starting spot and with 5 minutes before the state of the race, I ate my banana. I hoped the banana would provide enough fuel in my system and prevent my liver from doing a dump at the 30 minute mark.

Being fancy people like all people of the Land of Lincoln are, we didn't have a gun to start the race. I vaguely heard a "GO!" and the herd started moving. I set my start time as I crossed the chip timing mats and we were off.

I started the race feeling pretty good. It was pretty packed and I couldn't set my own pace. I had to let the 1,100 other runners around me set it for me. After a short while we could move a little better. The first mile to mile and a half I stayed with Awesome Cheryl. At about 1.7  miles, I started up my first hill and that's when I felt a large burn in my stomach. I've come to the conclusion that these occasional burns that I feel are when my liver does a glucose dump. I've noticed in my various triathlons that I feel a burn when I ingest a Hammer Gel. It's my theory that the sudden dump of sugar into my system creates the burning sensation. Up that hill is when I lost Awesome Cheryl.


The route went through a small portion of a Springfield neighborhood. As I was crossing the 2nd mile marker, I heard police sirens. I said a little prayer hoping everyone was ok - and then realized it was the police escort for the race leader who was heading back to the finish line. Now tell me that wasn't demoralizing? Here I have just finished my big push up this gargantuan hill trying to catch my breath when the race leader passes me. He's finished 4 miles while I have only finished 2 - in 20:08. I know I am not fast, but that really put me in my place. The gentleman behind me was kindly calling out "1st Place Awesome. 2nd Place Go Get him. 3rd Place Keep it up........1st place ladies". I wondered if he was going to continue this through the entire event. What would he be saying when he got to me? "1000th place....keep moving. Don't stop now."

The route took us into Oak Ridge Cemetery through the main gates just off of North Grand Avenue. Entering Oak Ridge you can see Lincoln's Tomb ahead. Being a lover of history, I really enjoyed this part of the race. I had two history teachers running along side of me and they were just as in awe as I was about having our 16th President buried right there in our little home town. After passing the tomb, the hills start up again, small ones, bigger ones. Finally, at the 3 mile, the route starts to loop back to the fair as you run around the Illinois Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The route then passed directly in front of the graves of my parents, brother and nephew who are buried together not far from the war memorial.

One of my pet peeves in racing is people who walk run. Don't ask me why. Actually, I'll tell you why. Because I am competitive and in my mind I am thinking "Oh look at the walker. They must be having a tough day. They should just be happy to be out here competing in this event.".....and then about the time I catch up to them they start running and pull away from me. Grrrr. The last 2 miles I had a couple of people who were driving me crazy with this...walk, run, walk, run. Don't make me mad now. I'll have to unleash the power of my incredible legs and squash you at the finish with my faster than a jack rabbit sprint.

During the final two miles, I came back to that hill where I think my body did a liver dump - and I had to back up that mule. About half way up, I decided to walk to the top. I still had fears of cramping in my head and decided it would be worth it to not push it up the hill if I could keep my kick at the end. I set a target on where I would start running again and I was off. Before you knew it, I was back on the fairgrounds heading to the grandstand.

And wouldn't you know it.
The lady in the green shorts.
She was twice my age.
She was a walk-runner and you know I can't stand that.
AND she was about 100 yards in front of me as we hit the 6 mile mark of what turned out to be a 6.3 mile run.

That was the motivation I needed. I wasn't going to let some old hag in baggy green shorts beat me. Oh no. Not today. The final 0.3 mile went from a 10-minute mile to a 6:31 pace. Yah, I've still got it. I just need to work on the mental attitude in the middle. That is where I fall short.

I finished the race in 1:04.58, an average 10:29 pace. Considering the amount of hills, I was pretty happy with that. I finished 480 overall (HEY! I beat over half of the runners. Wow, just realized that.), 193/590 women, 24/72 in my age group.

Awesome Cheryl - being the awesome athlete that she is - finished in 57:40, an average 9:18 pace. 305 overall, 95/590, and 17/84 in her age group. See? I told you she was awesome.

After the race, we walked for a minute or two and went to buy some ice cold water. #1 Problem with Abe's Amble - the water wasn't cold, but I guess when you consider they are serving 1,100 runners I shouldn't complain, aye? We decided we didn't need to stick around for the awards and walked back to my car. When I got there, I was quite horrified to realize that my blood sugar was soaring at an awful 350! I hate half a banana and checked my blood sugars an hour later. Back down to a better range of 117.

Overall I enjoyed the Abe's Amble 10k. I would probably do it again. It's funny how an unsatisfactory run can sit with you though. I went out for a 5 mile run last night and wanted to keep my pace between 9:30-9:45 and try to finish under 48 minutes. I tested my bs before running and it was 169. I knew it was higher because I didn't have any fuel in my stomach. I ate some yogurt and a piece of toast before taking off. I even made sure I had my phone on me in case I had any problems, but I felt pretty good last night. My average pace was 9:40 and I completed the full 5 miles in 48:23. My best pace was 7:47. Hmmm, who knew I could go so fast in a training run. After the run, I took my bs again - 182. Not too bad considering the amount of exercise I had just endured. I drank a glass of red wine and went to bed. We'll see what happens in the morning.

Going to College

I know it's hard to believe, but I've really got college on the brain right now. Most of my summer staff and lifeguards are returning or going away to college for the first time. It's been an interesting week listening to parents and students who are going through this transition. Some kids seem to take it all in stride and don't skip a beat while others struggle as they go through the motions of being away from their family and friends for the 1st time.

I was trolling through some websites trying to decide how I'm going to approach my fall menu planning when I came across Teri's Blog's post about going away to college. I find it hard to believe, but my little baby Hollywood will be starting college in 3 short years. I guess it's never too early to get prepared for that day.