Megan's Weightloss Journey Begins

Let me start off by saying I have always had a weight problem. I have been overweight most my life, people have made fun of me for it, and let me say kids in middle and high school are cruel! I lost my Mom when I was in the 7th grade to colon cancer. Depression caused me to gain more weight as I took comfort in food.

But in High school I decided to change that when I started dating someone online and was terrified to ever meet him in person. So I started dieting and working out. I didn't diet correctly though, I basically starved myself :( I can still remember my calorie count for different foods I allowed myself to eat even 8 years later. 90 cal yogert and 70 calorie chicken and stars soup at hand cups by Campbell's were my typical choices for breakfast and lunch. Dinner I just ate the veggies and small piece of meat my Dad or Grandma fixed.

It worked... But eating next to nothing and walking a lot will work. Doesn't mean you should do it.

I had lost 80 lbs doing this in about 10 months

I started out at 230 and got down to 150

I could never get below 150 and it irritated me to no end!

But after I had lost all that weight suddenly in 10th grade I was getting noticed more... 

Guys were flirting with me 

(and I have to admit I had no idea that was happening, my older sister was the one who had to inform me that the guy that was talking to me at Seaworld was flirting XD)

I also became best friends with a wonderful guy at school. My relationship with online boyfriend started to fall apart. I ended up breaking up with him to go out with my best friend (who I now call my husband)

David (Wonderful man of my life) made me comfortable with myself and I started to eat normally again (chicken nuggets and french fries became a typical lunch for me) but I continued to exercise so I didn't start gaining weight again too quickly. But I was gaining it back.

2 years later David and I graduated early from High School and got married.

 In those 2 years I gained back 40 lbs. (Stress of exams and planning a wedding didn't help my mood eating) And Still I was happy with myself, I mean I wasn't thin, but I still felt good about myself.

After High School we continued to live with my Grandparents and Dad. I had a lot of responsibilities and I took them seriously. My Aunt who had Spina Bifida needed to be cared for and my Grandmother couldn't do it alone anymore. And my Grandfather who suffered from Dementia also needed constant attention.

Needless to say my weight was the least of my concerns. 

Sadly the health of my grandfather and aunt started to go bad. My Aunt passed away in 2009 and then my Grandfather in 2010. I grew depressed and took comfort in food.

There were several times when I looked at myself in the mirror and knew I needed to start dieting and exercising again. But I could start next week right?

Now in 2013 I am still living in the same place, with my loving husband, taking care of my Grandmother who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's back in 2011, I am  taking back my life. I cut soda, white breads and rice, and my candy (that I still allow myself but on special occasions) and I lost 13 lbs! 

About a month ago I started to go to a doctor (for the first time in years) was diagnosed as Hypertensive (Very high blood pressure) from being so over weight (obese). So now it's not just my appearance that has been affected but my health.

After loosing the 13 lbs I am at 300 lbs. The heaviest I have ever been in my entire life. I can't believe I let myself get this far and it's no one's fault but my own. I am living up to my mistakes and on the road to good health. And this time I am doing it right.

I will do an update in a few months.

Would like to Thank my fellow Panda Rachel, my amazing husband, and my friends and family who have been giving me so much love and support (you know who you are)

2 posts this week, but I just wanted to put this out into the universe so maybe it will be a bit easier for me ^_^

Next week will be back to our regular food related posts! As you know Halloween is coming up and we have several treats to share with you!

A Sate ready to go shopping with Mommy!

Rachel's Favorite Cheese Ball

Megan here! This past week we celebrated my birth ^_^ 

For the party Rachel insisted we have a cheese ball she had at another party.

She and a friend nearly ate the whole thing by themselves.

She tracked down the person who made it just to get the recipe only to find out it was ineradicable simple.

3 Ingredients... That is all for this delicious appetizer.

1 8 oz package cream cheese softened

1 can corned beef

1/4 cup  green onion

(I keep green onions in water on my windowsill. I use what I need and they just keep growing!)

(Looks a bit gross but Rachel says it's finger lickin' good)

We mixed the corned beef and cream cheese together. You can use a spoon... Rachel did not!

And add the onion.

Mix it up again and refrigerate for a few hours until it is hard.

Form it into a ball, serve with crackers, and veggies. 

It was very good. About half of it got eaten at the party. 

Rachel happily took the rest home to eat herself!

I also wanted to share the awesome cupcakes my Sisters made for my birthday!

It was an ode to my childhood (All the cartoons I was obsessed with as a child... and as an adult)

We have a page on Facebook for our awesome cakes,

Daughters of Pamela Cake Decorating

This week we have for you a different pair of pets.

This is Kit and Twi. Aren't they cute?

Quinoa Pizza Bites

Time for another healthy recipe!

This past week we had a fun little girls night at my little sister's house. Rachel and I decided to make a finger food to take over there. What better than healthy pizza bites?

We found this recipe here. 

Ingredient list

 2 cups cooked quinoa 

2 large eggs 

1 cup chopped onion 

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese 

2 tsp minced garlic 

1/2 cup fresh basil or 1 tbsp dried

1 cup chopped pepperoni slices (We used turkey)

1/2 tsp seasoning salt 

1 tsp paprika 

1 tsp dried crushed oregano 

pizza sauce for dipping

(We thought about doubling the recipe and quickly realized 80 bites would be too much)

First step is to cook the quinoa. (Not pictured sorry)

We found a website that gives you Quinoa Cooking Tips which we found very helpful.

Chop up the garlic and the onions.

Here is the garlic, onion, and cheese. We added a bit of cheddar cheese to the mix. 

Add in pepperoni and herbs.

and mix up the quinoa and the eggs.

(This doesn't look appetizing but it smelled great!)

Spoon it into greased mini muffin pans and place in the preheated 350 degree oven.

When they come out you have a nice big stack of yummy!

They were a hit at girl's night! Serve them with pizza sauce (canned or homemade)

They kinda tasted like pepperoni flavored omelets on their own, but when dipped in the sauce it tasted more like Pizza. 

~Megan

This is how not so little Thorin eats his dinner.

Cauliflower Pizza Crust (For The Pintester Movement!)

Rachel and I are so excited to be apart of the Pintester Movement.

So as I said in the last post we are going to try to only do healthy recipes from now on to help aid me in my quest to become a healthier (and hopefully smaller) me!

This week we made Cauliflower Crust Pizza, since pizza is one thing I crave since starting my new diet.

I found this recipe a while ago on Pinterest and have been anxious to try it!

In the original post the blogger said to use Italian seasoning and Fennel seeds, we had neither so we didn't completely follow the recipe 100% >_< But here is what we used!

Ingredients:

1 recipe of Cauli-Rice

( the recipe: cauli-rice)

1/3 c shredded mozzarella cheese 

(we used half fat free and half regular)

1 egg

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp black pepper

We doubled the recipe so my family could try it too.

This is how you make the Cauli-rice. 

We start by braking the cauliflower (you use an entire head for one crust) down into manageable chunks.

Next we use my salad shooter, we just shredded up the cauliflower as much as we could. 

(Recipe called for a food processor but I don't have one) 

Next with our cauliflower in a large microwavable bowl we covered it with microwavable saran wrap.

Poked some holes in the top to let it vent as it steams and microwave for 7 minutes.

~~~~~~~~~~~

When it's done we were supposed to wait a few minutes for it to cool a bit, and put the cauli-rice on a cheese cloth, and squeeze the crap out of it! It needs to be super dry.

I did not wait for it to cool nor did I have a cheesecloth... 

I burned my hands squeezing the liquid out using a thin kitchen towel.

There was a big size reduction.

Then we added our cheese, egg, salt n' pepper!

 We used a metal spoon to mix it together.

Shaping the "dough" was a bit of a challenge.

We just took a ball of the cauliflower mixture and smashed it down til it was flat and then used my hands to form it into a round shape.

We used a silmat as she suggested (I love this thing! Nothing sticks to it!) 

Place it into your preheated 450 degree oven for 15-20 mins (we did 20)

Since we doubled the recipe we were able to make 2 pizza crusts.

(We transferred this crust onto a regular pan so we could start the next crust thinking since it was cooked it wouldn't stick... We were wrong, don't do it!)

(Made this one into a rectangle, not for any particular reason... just wanted to.)

The first pizza we made into a buffalo chicken pizza. 

Using precooked chicken breast, fat free ranch, cheese (1/2 fat free 1/2 regular) and buffalo sauce. 

And thanks to my lovely friend, there was waaaay too much ranch on it because she doesn't really like spicy food and wanted it cooled down.

(Not the healthiest pizza but it's reduced fat and low carb!)

For the last step you place the pizza on the top rack on broil until the cheese is bubbly.

and here is the result!

Rectangle pizza we did a regular spinach pizza.

Our buffalo pizza was a little messy and Rachel was not able to finish her slice because it was too spicy for her. But I personally loved it (I have obsession with not only garlic but spicy things too!) The crust held up nicely and was chewy. It was a huge relief to have pizza in my tummy ^_^ 

Rachel's only complaint was that the crust was too think in some areas, she wanted a crispier crust, and she could taste the cauliflower.

The taste may have been because we didn't use the seasonings like in the original.

We loved it and would make it again any day of the week! The process to make it is very long, but worth it.

~Megan

And for your enjoyment a little Thorin sleeping on the Husband's keyboard =^.^=

                                      

Carrot Fries!

So recently I have changed my diet because I am trying to get healthier. 

I no longer eat white bread, pasta, or rice, cut sugar out almost completely, gave up all soda including diet, and trying to limit processed food.

In taking on this new lifestyle of mine our posts will be changing a bit.

We will be making healthy (or healthier) food for our blog.

I would just like to thank my friend Rachel and husband David for their support in this.

Well as our first healthy post we made Carrot Fries!!!

Here is what you will need:

3-4 carrots

Parmesan cheese

garlic (minced)

salt and pepper

olive oil

To start off you need to cut your carrots into "fries" like you would potatoes.

Put them into a large bowl

Next drizzle some olive oil over them. About 2 tablespoons should be enough.

Add salt and pepper (to taste)

Mix it up good!

Next add your garlic (to taste) and Parmesan cheese (to taste)

 We like cheese a bit too much >_<

Spread them on a baking sheet. 

Bake at 450 for about 20 mins or until they are crispy enough to your liking.

Done! And they are yummy! 

We couldn't get them crispy enough to our liking. So we played with how we cut them.

We found that using a potato peeler we could get them super crispy when they baked.

Nice little snack for me ^_^

Thank you for reading!

~Megan

Oh, here is a frustrated kitty that can't fit himself into his box!

=^.^=

Cupcake Serving Tower!

I know we normally make post about food, but this is food related! 

My friend asked me to make a birthday cake for her very adorable 2 year old daughter.

She wanted a jungle theme cake with 24 cupcakes and a small cake to go with it.

This was the cake she found on a Facebook page that she wanted me to make for her. It is very cute, I knew I could duplicate it but I didn't want to go out and buy a cupcake tower...

So I decided to make a cupcake tower!

Here is what you will need:

2 empty veggie cans

1 empty tuna can

cardboard cake rounds 2 of each size.

(I used 12 in, 10 in, and 8 in)

Hot glue

Ribbon (1 in thick)

pattern paper

and scissors

I started off by gluing the cardboard rounds together (not the white slick part but the actual cardboard side)

Should look like this. And you do this with all the sizes!

Here are all my board glued together.

Next cut the pattern paper to fit around the can. 

Wrap it around and glue to can

Do this with all three cans.

Glue the smallest shortest can to the bottom of the largest cardboard circle, directly in the center.

This will be the base of the entire structure so you want it to be centered.

now for the next level I had trouble gluing the cans to the boards because the glue didn't have anything to hold onto. So I cut out circles from another cardboard round and glued it to both the top and bottom of the cans. 

The open side still had a lip I could glue the cardboard to and make it stay.  Do this to both cans, I didn't have a problem with the tuna can staying on the bottom so I didn't do anything to it.

This is the base and middle layer. Next you add the last can to the top of the middle directly centered and glue the top on. 

Once you have your stand together you add the last touch! Decorative ribbon to hide the unsightly cardboard sides. Put a dab of glue on the cardboard and hold the ribbon to it, move over an inch add a dab and hold. Do this until the ribbon covers the outside.

Word of warning you may burn your fingers holding the ribbon on the glue (if you did it like me and used your fingers to press the ribbon to the hot hot glue XD)

Here is the finished product! Very Zoo like I think ^_^

And the stand holding the cake and cupcakes!

It turned out wonderful and her daughter loved it!

Here are some kitties =^.^=

My boys, aren't they cute?

Thanks for reading! 

~Megan