Raffle winners have been selected and shirts are on their way. You know who you are. Thanks to everyone who participated and filled out the survey! For those who didn't, there's always next year.
Janine Jagger, Matt Lentzner and I are busy crunching the mountain of data we collected from the GFJ survey. We got 279 responses, which is remarkable for a survey of this nature.
Stay tuned for data!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Watermelon Blueberry Banana Split
(makes 3 cups)
Ingredients:
- 2 large bananas
- 8 scoops watermelon
- 1 cup fresh blueberries or raspberries or strawberries
- ½ cup vanilla low-fat yogurt
- ¼ cup granola
Preparation:
- Peel bananas and cut in half crosswise. Then cut each piece in half lengthwise. Lay 2 banana slices against the sides of a shallow dish.
- Place a watermelon "scoop" at each end of the dish. (To make watermelon "scoops" use an ice cream scoop to create balls of watermelon. Remove seeds)
- Fill in with berries.
- Stir yogurt until smooth, spoon over watermelon "scoops". Sprinkle with granola.
Make 4 splits:
Weight loss recipes Amount Per Serving(1 split (166 g)): 151 Calories, 3 g Protein, 31 g carbohydrates, 3 g Dietary Fiber, 3 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 2 mg cholesterol, 24 mg sodiumHank's capture video
I loved this video!
It made me cry because it's such a happy event. You can see what a gentle soul this little guy is just by his demeanor. He's been on the run for a week, in a completely foreign land, with snow and freezing temperatures this last week. Scrounging for food and sick with bronchitis. He didn't understand our language since he's from Taiwan, and I'm sure everything smells very differently here than it did in Taiwan. You can see how gentle he is when Jim (the tracking dog owner) picks him up and puts him in the kennel. Really touching.
I've never heard of this organization until last weekend, Missing Pet Partnership, Seattle Pet Detectives. They were hired by the Saving Great Animals rescue group to find Hank. I was really impressed by these folks.
The lady in the yellow vest in the video is Cat, and she is really a neat lady. They worked so hard to find Hank. They plastered the neighborhood with signs. There were signs everywhere. You couldn't go down a street within a two-mile radius from where he was lost without seeing one of the lost dog signs (and they were huge signs). They used a tracking dog to find where Hank was hanging out. They had a video camera at one of the live animal traps. They had a phone hotline that was answered 24/7.
I guess most major cities have a service like this, but I'd never heard of such a thing. Good to know in case I ever lose a pet.
It made me cry because it's such a happy event. You can see what a gentle soul this little guy is just by his demeanor. He's been on the run for a week, in a completely foreign land, with snow and freezing temperatures this last week. Scrounging for food and sick with bronchitis. He didn't understand our language since he's from Taiwan, and I'm sure everything smells very differently here than it did in Taiwan. You can see how gentle he is when Jim (the tracking dog owner) picks him up and puts him in the kennel. Really touching.
~~~~~~~
The lady in the yellow vest in the video is Cat, and she is really a neat lady. They worked so hard to find Hank. They plastered the neighborhood with signs. There were signs everywhere. You couldn't go down a street within a two-mile radius from where he was lost without seeing one of the lost dog signs (and they were huge signs). They used a tracking dog to find where Hank was hanging out. They had a video camera at one of the live animal traps. They had a phone hotline that was answered 24/7.
I guess most major cities have a service like this, but I'd never heard of such a thing. Good to know in case I ever lose a pet.
There were also about 30 volunteers working to find Hank. A really nice group of people donating their time to help in the search. The whole thing just made me feel better about people in general. The world really isn't such a bad place. There's a lot of good out there, we just don't always see it.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Tiramisù
(makes 12 servings)
Ingredients:
- 1½ cups coffee (strength according to your desire)
- 4 tbsp coffee-flavored liqueur (i.e. Kahlúa)
- 3½ oz. mascarpone cheese
- 8 oz. fat free cream cheese
- ⅓ cup packed brown sugar
- ¼ cup white sugar
- 24 ladyfingers
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
Preparation:
- Combine 2 tbsp of the coffee-flavored liqueur and the coffee in a medium bowl.
- Combine the cream cheese, mascarpone cheese, 2 tbsp liqueur, white and brown sugars in a separate medium bowl. Beat until well.
- Dip the ladyfingers in the coffee mixture, then line them in one layer of an 8” square pan. Spread half of the cheese mixture on top of the ladyfingers, repeat with the remaining ladyfingers and cheese mixture. Sprinkle with cocoa.
- Stick a few toothpicks in the dessert, then cover with plastic wrap
- Chill in refrigerator for about 3-4 hours.
Make 12 Servings:
Weight loss recipes Amount Per Serving(2 ladyfingers (63 g)): 178 Calories, 6 g Protein, 25 g carbohydrates, 0 g Dietary Fiber, 5 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 91 mg cholesterol, 163 mg sodiumBest Day Ever!! (Hank and me updates)
After four crazy, emotional roller coaster days of searching for Hank, posting signs, checking the live animal traps, I received the following email this afternoon:
BEST DAY EVER!! Hank has been caught! We can’t believe our eyes and there are plenty of tears from this exhausting long haul. The work is not done yet, as off to the vet he goes. He is tired, dehydrated, scared and hungry. But he is alive.
We have paid the homeowner a reward (which they made sure to ask for!) and Vashti and Jessica are ready to take him to the vet.
We will keep you posted through the day and send a picture. We are not done thanking you ALL!
A happy ending!
Me update
It turns out that setting a goal of losing ten pounds in three weeks was kind of stupid. I know when I put crazy deadlines on myself they backfire in my face, so I don't know why I do this. It never works. You know the definition of insanity, well, that's me...insane.
My food has been pretty good, but not good enough to lose weight (I'm down a couple pounds to 180, but that's not the number I wanted to see). I've been eating very healthy food, but my portions are too large. Same old story with me. I eat too much of the good stuff.
Exercise is rocking. Today was a pure cardio day. I do those about once a week, where I only do cardio and no weights.
Thirty minutes at a steady pace on the StairMaster, 121 floors, average step rate 68. Thirty minutes on the stationary bike. At lunch I went over the Sea-Tac Doubletree. Fourteen floors from the basement to the top. Each jaunt up was 225 steps. I did it four times, or 900 steps. The Big Climb is 1,311 steps.
After 14 floors I had to turn around and go back down the stairs, back to the first floor, then start over. So I get a break every 14 floors. It was still hard. The first time it wasn't bad, second time a little bit more difficult, third time, ouch, it's hurting me. Fourth time, OMG I'm going to die! No way can I climb 69 floors non-stop.
My co-worker that's done the Big Climb three times in the last three years keeps telling me it's a mind game. He said it's really 70% mental and 30% physical. If your mind believes you can do it, then you can do it. I know today my mind kept saying 'you are so screwed Diana!'. If only I'd lost that 20 pounds or even 10 pounds, this would have been so much easier.
Since I can't lose a lot of weight at this point (only 18 days left!), I'm going to focus on the exercise. I'll continue my gym workouts as usual, adding in the exercise bike more often since it's good for the quads and quads are good for the stairs, and add in a daily DoubleTree stair workout during lunch. I also need to focus more on my core, a strong core is good for climbing stairs.
Mind over matter, mind over matter. Yes, I can do this!
BEST DAY EVER!! Hank has been caught! We can’t believe our eyes and there are plenty of tears from this exhausting long haul. The work is not done yet, as off to the vet he goes. He is tired, dehydrated, scared and hungry. But he is alive.
We have paid the homeowner a reward (which they made sure to ask for!) and Vashti and Jessica are ready to take him to the vet.
We will keep you posted through the day and send a picture. We are not done thanking you ALL!
A happy ending!
Me update
It turns out that setting a goal of losing ten pounds in three weeks was kind of stupid. I know when I put crazy deadlines on myself they backfire in my face, so I don't know why I do this. It never works. You know the definition of insanity, well, that's me...insane.
My food has been pretty good, but not good enough to lose weight (I'm down a couple pounds to 180, but that's not the number I wanted to see). I've been eating very healthy food, but my portions are too large. Same old story with me. I eat too much of the good stuff.
Exercise is rocking. Today was a pure cardio day. I do those about once a week, where I only do cardio and no weights.
Thirty minutes at a steady pace on the StairMaster, 121 floors, average step rate 68. Thirty minutes on the stationary bike. At lunch I went over the Sea-Tac Doubletree. Fourteen floors from the basement to the top. Each jaunt up was 225 steps. I did it four times, or 900 steps. The Big Climb is 1,311 steps.
After 14 floors I had to turn around and go back down the stairs, back to the first floor, then start over. So I get a break every 14 floors. It was still hard. The first time it wasn't bad, second time a little bit more difficult, third time, ouch, it's hurting me. Fourth time, OMG I'm going to die! No way can I climb 69 floors non-stop.
My co-worker that's done the Big Climb three times in the last three years keeps telling me it's a mind game. He said it's really 70% mental and 30% physical. If your mind believes you can do it, then you can do it. I know today my mind kept saying 'you are so screwed Diana!'. If only I'd lost that 20 pounds or even 10 pounds, this would have been so much easier.
Since I can't lose a lot of weight at this point (only 18 days left!), I'm going to focus on the exercise. I'll continue my gym workouts as usual, adding in the exercise bike more often since it's good for the quads and quads are good for the stairs, and add in a daily DoubleTree stair workout during lunch. I also need to focus more on my core, a strong core is good for climbing stairs.
Mind over matter, mind over matter. Yes, I can do this!
Black Bean and Cabbage Stew
(makes 6 servings)
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp olive oil (or vegetable oil)
- 1 white part of leek, chopped
- 1 large chopped onion
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
- 1 ¼ lbs. chopped potatoes
- 14 oz. can black beans
- 3½ cups low-sodium vegetable broth
- 6 oz. shredded cabbage
- Salt and pepper to taste
Preparation:
- Heat olive oil in a large-size saucepan. Add leek and onion and sauté for about 3 minutes. Add garlic and paprika and continue to sauté for about 2 minutes.
- Add thyme, potatoes, black beans and vegetable broth, bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until potatoes are cooked through (about 10 minutes).
- Add cabbage and season to taste with salt and pepper. Simmer for about 5 minutes.
Make 6 Servings:
Weight loss recipes Amount Per Serving(1/6 of recipe (570 g)): 425 Calories, 16 g Protein, 72 g carbohydrates, 14 g Dietary Fiber, 9 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 2 mg cholesterol, 983 mg sodiumTuesday, March 1, 2011
Sweet Potato Custard
(makes 6 servings)
Ingredients:
- 1 cup cooked sweet potatoes, mashed
- 1 cup evaporated skim milk
- 2 egg, slightly beaten
- 2 tbsp packed brown sugar
- ½ cup mashed banana
- 1 tbsp sugar
- ¼ cup raisins
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp salt
Preparation:
- Stir together sweet potato and banana in a medium bowl. Add milk, blending well. Add brown sugar, eggs, and salt, mixing thoroughly.
- Transfer mixture to a non-stick one quart casserole pan.
- Combine cinnamon, sugar and raisins; sprinkle over top of sweet potato mixture.
- Bake at 300 degree F oven about 45 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted 1 inch from edge comes out clean.
Make 6 Servings:
Weight loss recipes Amount Per Serving(1/6 of recipe (114 g)): 149 Calories, 5 g Protein, 29 g carbohydrates, 2 g Dietary Fiber, 2 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 72 mg cholesterol, 252 mg sodium
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