WINNERS! {from previous challenge}

Finally time to meet our winners from the previous fitness challenge back in December.  THE HARDEST TIME EVER!!!  These two women worked so hard and I love their stories.

So first up, let's meet Rachel! {you're adorable, Rachel!!!}

After struggling with weight for almost my whole life, I decided while pregnant with my 4th baby last year that this was my time to make the changes I needed and to GET HEALTHY for good! 

I joined Weight Watchers just after my baby was born 6 months ago, and I never looked back! In that time I have lost 50 pounds UNDER my pre-pregnancy weight.(This weight loss challenge got me almost to the end, and I finished it out just shortly after!) As for workouts, I simply set a goal to be moving! I park farther from the doors at the grocery store, I do the Walk at Home videos from Leslie Sansone, and have pushed myself to start running--I am now training for my first 5k (coming from a non-runner this is a big deal!! :) I FEEL FANTASTIC!

It was SO important to I be able to eat the same things my family was eating--and that I not live on salad alone! I have realized on my weight loss journey that much of the first steps of change are PORTION CONTROL and to stop snacking mindlessly. When you track what you eat, you are much more mindful of what you're putting in your body! :) I feel like my whole family is healthier as a result--

One of my favorite meals to eat is a homemade stirfry--the recipe can be found here:

http://excellenteats.blogspot.com/2010/10/beef-and-broccoli-chicken-style.html

If you want my whole weight loss before and after pictures and little story, you are welcome to share my link to it. If not, that's fine too...whatever works! I am happy to share...

http://brholloway.blogspot.com/2011/01/big-5-0my-before-and-after-weight-loss.html

Next, let's Meet Melanie!  {also utterly adorable!!!}

My husband and I are the parents of 5 boys, yes all boys (ages 3-13).  We recently moved from Highland Utah to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Although we miss our family and friends out west, we love life in the South.  I love to cook, bake, travel, read, entertain, and create a home for my family. I also love blogging:)  I have two blogs, a recipe site I share with my sisters called The Sisters Cafe (www.sisterscafe.blogspot.com) and Melandboys (www.melandboys.blogspot.com)

I think the secret to my success was having such a great partner in this contest.  Rachel had already lost over 40 pounds and was on a roll!!  She was so committed that I really did not want to let her down. She is such an inspiration to me! She has been following the Weight Watchers program, so I joined online so we could be doing the same thing.  I will admit that dieting at Christmas time was hard, but I am so glad that I did.  With the weight Watchers program you can still have your treats, if you save the points by eating healthy the majority of the time. Now I am excited to keep it going and get off that last stubborn 15 pounds!

Here is a link to my favorite healthy and DELICIOUS meal!  Yum!

Thai Coconut Shrimp (

http://sisterscafe.blogspot.com/2010/05/thai-coconut-curry-shrimp.html

Thanks, Rachel & Melanie!  You both make me want to try harder - thanks for sharing!

LIST IS FULL!

How exciting that you all want to join in the fitness fun!  I've got 55 people down---and I'm going to have to close the sign-up list.  {So many cute people to keep track of!!!}  So no more stragglers---and let's DO THIS THING!!! {...after I have a piece of my homemade wheat bread....mmmmm....not very healthy but oh well....}

To kick off my fitness journey, I'm totally watching 'Shallow Hal' tonight!  I've never seen it, it was on HBO, so I DVR'd it.  ha!  {DVR, ATV, VCR,  MTV - what has happened to the English language?!}

Cooking 101 - Sausage, Kale & Potato Soup

If you need a hearty winter comfort soup, THIS IS IT!!!

This. Is. SO. Good.  Especially with BFF Kadie's bread. 

When I want something good to eat, I go check out Kadie's blog - she's always got exactly what I want on there.  That's where I found this soup and I absolutely had to try it.

I did mine a little differently - but the general idea is the same.  This soup reminds me of Zuppa Toscana at the Olive Garden, but I actually think this one is better.   {squeal!}  I doubled my recipe because I wanted a big pot, so here's my version:

SAUSAGE, KALE & POTATO SOUP

2 T olive oil

1 onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 -1/2 t. crushed red-pepper flakes (depends on how spicy you like it)

5-7 large potatoes cut into small, 1/2 inch chunks (I used red potatoes)

1/4 c. fresh chopped Italian parsley

6 c. chicken broth (6 c. water + 3 Tbs. chicken base) 

1 bunch kale, stemmed and shredded (about 3-4 c. shredded)

1.5 - 2 lbs. Italian sausage, casings removed

1/3 c. heavy cream (optional, but wonderful!)

In a large pot, heat oil over medium. Add onion and cook until soft.  Add garlic and red pepper flakes; cook until fragrant.   Add the potatoes, parsley and broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat.  Simmer until the potatoes are tender, 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, brown sausage until it's no longer pink.  Set aside.

In a blender, or with an imersion blender, puree half the soup. Return to the pot and add kale and sausage. Simmer until the kale is wilted about 10-15 minutes.  Add heavy cream.  You don't have to use all of it if  you don't want. Salt & pepper as needed

Makes about 8-10 generous servings.

Happy New Years!

You all have a great New Year's celebration!  {even if it's sitting on the couch with the TV!}  Our New Year's tradition is to have a movie night and slumber party/movie marathon in the living room with popcorn, milkshakes or whatever kind of junk I feel like feeding my kids!  It's the ONE time a year they get to do this, so it's quite exciting.  We're mixing it up a bit this year, but they're still going to have fun.

Now with the holiday festivities over and school going to start back up again, maybe, just maybe I'll get to actually pull out a project and relax.  Okay, wishful thinking...but a girl can dream, right?!

Happy New Year's!  What are you guys doing tonight?!

...oh, and as a gift to myself while I clean the house, take down decor, and have some "me" time while I work, I downloaded "The Help" from Audible.com - worth every penny.  Best book I've listened to in a LONG, long time.  For me, it's more fun to listen to a story like this because the voices bring the story to life.  At this rate, I'll get the whole house cleaned up and not even notice I've been working!!!  yessssss.

We've Got Winners! and Round 2!

Whew!  After calculating all of the numbers myself, we finally have a WINNING PAIR!!!  With a total of 7.15% weight loss between the two of them, they had the highest number!  If I didn't hear back from you, I'm so sorry if we missed you.

Our winners have been contacted and will be sending me photos and info, so I'll post about them when I get all of that!

In the meantime...


Let's do this again!  There is a lot of interest, so EMAIL ME NOW and we'll start Round 2 without partners this time!    Many of you emailed me requesting that we do this without pairing up and I think that's a great idea.  Same rules - same concept.  Let's go 3 months this time to really give us a challenge! Shall we say April 1st as an end date? April Fools?!

Once again, I really don't want to keep track of your statistics, nor do I want to tally everything myself...so this will be an on-your-honor event.

PLEASE READ THE DIRECTIONS BECAUSE THEY'RE VERY IMPORTANT!

Loose as much weight as you can THE HEALTHY WAY by APRIL 1ST.   (no puking, gagging, laxatives, starving, or anything deemed unhealthy. Getting the flu would be to your advantage, though.)

This competition will be limited to no more than 40 participants.  EMAIL ME NOW!!! (address is on the sidebar of this blog)  I WILL NEED YOUR BEGINNING WEIGHT.  Sorry---it's the only way to be fair.

EACH PERSON sends $10.00 to my house and I'll put it in the pot for the winner.  If you don't send in your $10, you are disqualified and we'll all be upset with you because you short-changed us.  

NO CHEATIES!  This is an "On-Your-Honor" kind of deal.  You can weigh in and start as soon as I get your email - nothing prior counts!  So when you hear from me....START!  I'll answer emails as soon as I get them.

WHEN THE COMPETITION IS OVER, I NEED THREE THINGS: 
BEGINNING WEIGHT 
ENDING WEIGHT
PERCENTAGE LOST  (here is a calculator)


HERE WE GO!!

I think we have a winner...

{GASP!} I'm pretty sure we have a winner...but I have to give two more couples a fair chance to get back to me today.  If they don't then I'm going to announce our winner.  EXCITING!!!  I must say, too, how impressed I am with everybody's success!  I'm envious because I lacked discipline this round and SO many of you had amazing results...but maybe we could do this again - any takers?!  I have to loose 40 lbs. by May and I need another kick-start now that the holiday temptations are GONE!

{some time later, and a few head-bashing bruises, and two diet pepsi's...}

...okay...I'm still crunching numbers.  It's going to be close.  Because everybody has a partner, it's altering the percentages and it's taking me a while.  {exactly what I didn't want to have happen...}  If I've contacted you, I need your combined beginning and ending weight.  {you and your partner}  That's how we get an accurate percentage.  Otherwise I'm throwing out people who don't submit that to me.  Thanks!!!

LAST CALL!!!

Still waiting on a few of you to email your weight loss percentage to me!!!  If I don't hear from you, I'm going to pick our winner!!!

Merry Christmas!!!...and the winner!

Tomorrow is the BIG DAY!!!  Not only do I hope you all have the Merriest of Merry Christmasness, but I can't wait to see who our WINNER will be from our quickie little weight loss challenge!!!  Sadly, I wasn't disciplined enough and I can definitely say that I gained back anything I lost...I am weak...

So after all of your Christmas morning celebrations, don't forget to email me your ending weight/percentage lost!  

Christmas LOVE!

I love this season.  LOVE IT, Love it, love it!  {hence the hearts}  It's absolutely my favorite.  And it's called CHRISTMAS.  Not "Holiday".  

Furthermore...why do people from other non-Christian religions celebrate Christmas?!  I respect all religions, but I don't celebrate their special holidays.  ...hmmm....makes me wonder, that's all.  

...and here's this year's tree - a fun change from the red & white peppermint thing I had going on for the last two years.  Peppermint was exciting, but I'm more in the mood for different colors this year.  I found a huge tub of plastic ornaments from Sam's Club and I'm glad I chose plastic because...

...Brooke loves to rip them off with brute force and eat them.  After having four kids, I've finally learned to decorate with plastic!  It's a Christmas Miracle!!! 

My humble Nativity.  The reason for all of my excitement - the birth of our Savior.  I get giddy thinking about how exciting it all must have been for all of us in Heaven, for those waiting His arrival on Earth, and even for the unknowing during that time.  What a beautiful, humble, exciting moment in time. 

{And let's not forget that noble donkey. He/She had an important job!}

Cooking 101-Open Faced Breakfast Sandwich

Okay, so let me paint a picture for you - clap if you can relate: I'm tired out of my mind, yesterday was traumatic, this whole week has been traumatic (I'll explain later), this morning was "late start" for school which means I had a chance to sleep in, but NO, babies don't know what that means, so we all got up, I had four kids up and eager to talk at my face for 2 hours while I'm vigorously rubbing sleep out of my eyes, trying so hard to stay awake.  Milk in the fridge is sour, there's nothing to eat for breakfast. Baby got to 'play' in the toilet (silence means trouble), therefore needing a bath, there are no clean pants for the kids, and I have Christmas decorations strung out all over my living room.  Have you ever had a day like that?!  


SO...got kids fed and off on school busses with lots of love from mom, put baby down for a much needed nap, and as I was standing in my kitchen STARVING, I decided it was a day for.....my ultimate breakfast sandwich. {gasp!} Do you see how marvelous this all comes together?!

You HAVE to try this if you're a fan of this type of breakfast/brunch food.  Some people despise eggs, so those wierdos can ignore this post - but the rest of you will definitely want to try this!

Fresh Ciabatta buns - cut one in half 

One or two eggs, cooked with a little olive oil, salt & pepper 

Swiss Gruyere cheese - mmmmmm.... (no substitutes-do yourself a favor)

Hickory smoked turkey - needs to be smoked on account of the great flavor

Grill bread with a little butter on a cast iron skillet, grill turkey a little on both sides...

Assemble with a little cheese in between and get a fork and knife because breakfast just got exciting!  This is SO good with a cup of cocoa, too.  These flavor combinations are really, really incredible!!!

...kinda makes a hectic morning melt away.