Lemon-Roasted Salmon with Lemon Parmesan Asparagus

Lemon-Roasted Salmon with Lemon Parmesan Asparagus

 

The beauty of working from home is that I can cook meals like this, if I feel like it. Oh my, was it GOOD!! 

Lemon-Roasted Salmon

recipe by me

Ingredients

Salmon fillet or steaks (number depends on how many people you are cooking for. I usually buy a 6oz fillet for myself)

olive oil

sea salt

fresh ground pepper  (I use this)

lemon slices

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400

Either spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray or line with foil. Place salmon on baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt & pepper. Top evenly with lemon slices. 

Bake 18-20 min or until flakes with a fork

Lemon Parmesan Asparagus

Recipe here

The photo in the recipe looks much better than my photo, but I think its because I accidentally over poured on the olive oil, oops! But it still tasted AMAZING! 

 

Today's Water - Strawberry, Orange & Raspberry

Hey everyone!

I have been completely out of the loop & behind on my blog, as you are all aware! Spring is in the air & fruits are coming back in season; well as far as the ones I like for my infused waters. I am going to try my best to keep up with giving you all as many water & food recipes I can.

I have lost 61 pounds so far & another 40 to go to reach my ultimate weight goal before I reassess to determine where I want to go from there. Once I reach that goal, I will be what I weighed in my senior year of high school!!! I'm SO EXCITED!

If anyone has any suggestions on what topic they'd like to see a post on, please feel free to let me know. I see all the traffic that comes through my page, so I know there are so many people reading, so please let me know what you'd like to to read or if you have any questions on anything Ive posted thus far.

OK, so on to the purpose of today's post :)

Strawberry, Orange & Raspberry Infused Water

• 6 Strawberries, sliced
• 1/2 Orange, sliced
• Handful of Raspberries, cut in half

Note: These portions are for a 2.9qt pitcher. If your pitcher is a different size, you will need to adjust accordingly; otherwise, it may not taste very good :) 

Cranberry Avocado Spinach Salad with Grilled Chicken and Homemade Orange Poppy Seed Dressing

This salad is AMAZING folks! I had to share the recipe with you all! It is by no means low fat, low carb, low cal, low anything; however I do consider the majority of this to be healthy clean foods that all benefit your body & health in some way. Because I had a bout of hair loss, I am constantly searching for recipes with high protein & this recipe has 45 grams of protein in one serving, which I find pretty awesome!

Cranberry Avocado Spinach Salad with Chicken and Orange Poppy Seed Dressing

Recipe adapted from cookingclassy.com

Ingredients

Dressing

·  1/2 cup olive oil

·  2 tsp orange zest

·  1/4 cup fresh orange juice

·  2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

·  2 Tbsp honey

·  2 tsp Dijon mustard

·  1/4 tsp sea salt

·  1 Tbsp poppy seeds

Salad

·  1 lb chicken, grilled (I seasoned mine with Flavor God seasonings & grilled on my indoor grill); season & grill to your taste

·  9 oz baby spinach

·  2 medium avocados, cored and diced

·  1 cup crumbled feta

·  3/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted

·  3/4 cup dried cranberries

Instructions

·  Add olive oil, orange zest, orange juice, lemon juice, honey, dijon mustard and salt to a blender. Pulse until well emulsified. Pour into a jar and stir in poppy seeds. Refrigerate until ready to use.

·  Add all salad ingredients to a large bowl. Pour dressing over top and toss to evenly coat. Serve immediately.

Serves: 4

Weight Watchers Points: 21

Blackened Fish Tacos with Avocado-Cilantro Sauce

Ya'll these fish tacos are DELISH!!! nomnomnom!! Be sure to open up your windows & turn on the fans because it definitely smells up your house, but it is well worth it!!

Blackened Fish Tacos with Avocado-Cilantro Sauce

recipe adapted from hostthetoast.com

nutritional facts at the end 

• 1.5 lbs tilapia fillets
• 1 ½ teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• ½ teaspoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon brown sugar
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 12 corn tortillas

For the Slaw:

• ½ red cabbage, sliced thin
• ¼ green cabbage, sliced thin
• ½ medium-sized onion, diced
• ½ cup cilantro
• Juice of 1 lime

For the Avocado-Cilantro Sauce:

• ½ cup light sour cream
• 1 ripe avocado, pitted and skinned
• ¼ cup cilantro, chopped
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 jalapeno, chopped and seeded
• Sea Salt, to taste

Directions

1. In a small bowl, combine the smoked paprika, garlic powder, dried oregano, onion powder, cumin, salt, brown sugar, and cayenne pepper. Sprinkle the mixture over both sides of your tilapia fillets, and then rub the seasonings in.
2. Combine all of the Avocado-Cilantro Sauce ingredients in a food processor or blender. Pulse until well-combined.
3. Combine all of the Slaw ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
4. Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed pan over medium-high heat. Once heated, add in the tilapia (a few at a time if you can't fit them all at once). Cook for 4-5 minutes on each side, or until the outside is blackened and the fish flakes apart easily.
5. Remove the fish from the heat, and if desired, warm the corn tortillas in the same skillet over medium heat, cooking for about 30 seconds on each side.
6. Break up the tilapia into 2-3" pieces. Stack the tortillas in twos. Distribute the fish evenly between the 6 sets of tortillas, and top with Slaw and Avocado-Cilantro Sauce. Serve.

Notes

Blackening spices are very fragrant, so turn on your overhead fan while you cook the fish.



Weight Watchers Points: 8

My Meal & Exercise Plans

People are asking all the time & I kept saying that I was going to blog about this & never got around to it, so I guess now is better than any other time, right :)
My meal plan:
I do not follow an official meal plan & I am not on a fad diet. I do not take any over the counter or prescription diet pills/supplements. I do take a daily multi-vitamin as well as Biotin.

Everything that I consume is FRESH. No frozen, boxed, canned or processed foods. All of my fruits/vegetables are purchased from local farmers using a service that I order from, not from the grocery store. If I do need to buy something, it is from Trader Joe's (Whole Foods/Sprouts). If I need pasta, something canned, dressing or something to that affect, I will either buy from Trader Joe's or from the same local farmer service that I buy my fruits/vegetables from because it is homemade/organic. Organic is the way to go folks!

If I am going to eat out, which is RARELY, I will eat a veggie bowl from Chipotle, select items from Panera Bread & then stick to salads at other dine-in restaurants. I do not go to any other fast food chain restaurants.

If I am going to cheat, I will eat pizza & Mexican food, which are my two weaknesses & then I pay for it within a few hours after eating it. I feel really sick. I keep this to a minimum because I would rather not deal with the consequences. Over the holidays I did do some baking & ate some of it, but sent the rest home with family!

I drink LOTS of water. In the summer, I drink a lot of infused waters when fruit is in season. I drink 1/2 cup of coffee in the mornings. Occasionally, I will drink cranberry juice from Trader Joe's.

My exercise plan:
I was running, but I was getting painful shin splints. Then I had sinus surgery & after recovery, when I attempted to run again, I would get terrible migraines on top of the shin splints, so the Dr suggested that I do something else for a while, then try to run again.

Currently, I do the elliptical & stair master for cardio 5-6 days a week. I also do weight training 4-5 days a week.

So far I have lost 52 pounds. I still have a ways to go to my goal weight, but I know I will get there eventually.

Low Carb Zucchini Lasagna with Spicy Turkey Meat Sauce

Ok guys...made this last night...YUM! Even my son liked it, which says A LOT! He thought the turkey was beef!

I got the recipe here
I forgot to take a pic so the photo credit goes to AmbitiousKitchen.com

Nutrition Information

• Serves: 8

• Serving size: 1/8th of recipe
• Calories: 308

• Fat: 12.6g
• Carbohydrates: 15.1g
• Sugar: 6.9g
• Fiber: 3.2g
• Protein: 37.3g

Weight Watchers Points = 8

My story - Long post...

I have always struggled with my weight. I remember as far back as age 10 when my mom put me on meal replacement shakes & supplements from Herbal Life. I have always had a complex. Ive been very self conscious & had low self esteem issues that stemmed from my weight. I'm also an emotional eater, so that doesn't help matters either!
There has only been a few times in my life where I actually felt 'comfortable' in my own skin. That was when I was physically active & eating healthy between my Jr & Sr year of high school, about 11yrs later & once again, working on it now 9yrs later.

In addition to being obese, I have accumulated a laundry list of diagnosed health problems, some weight related & some not:

• Migraines
• Cervical Spondylosis
• Chronic Low Back Pain
• Lumbar Spondylosis
• Chronic Neck Pain
• Myofascial Pain Syndrome
• Lumbar Radiculopathy
• Sacroiliitis 
• Plantar Fasciitis
• Clinical Depression
• Anxiety
• High blood pressure  
• Hearing loss in both ears (40% in one & 60% in the other)

In 2010, my son & I moved back from a place we had moved to in 2006 to my birthplace so that he could be closer to family. I did not want to do it; I loved where I was at & had planned staying there to infinity, but I did it for him regardless of my wants & feelings. I became very unhappy very quickly. I ended up being diagnosed with depression. A few years prior to that, I had been diagnosed with anxiety. Put the two together & you never go out of the house. When you never go out of the house & you are depressed & you are an emotional eater already, you eat & eat & eat! On top of all of this, I was addicted to pain killers, which had gotten completely out of control. I was miserable from being so overweight & from all of the physical pain I was in all the time. My weight gain increased.

In 2013, my family went through a crisis that lasted about two years. During this time is when I decided that it was time for change, so I began detoxing. I started ridding my body of all medications, including the daily preventative medications for the migraines. I wanted to be clean & clear of everything that was not natural or organic.

Here is a pic from April 8, 2014. When I look back on this photo, I see a very unhappy & sad person. I was also in a lot of pain with being off the pain meds at this point. Completely miserable in body, soul & mind. I had reached a point where I was desperate to lose weight, but I was not willing to put the effort into it. I still coveted my food. Food was my comfort for everything & I hate going outside of my comfort zone! Anyone that truly knows me, knows this about me! And exercise? huh! There was absolutely NO WAY that was going to happen with all of the pain I was in physically! So, I decided I was going to try an "all natural diet pill". Apparently there wasn't anything I had to do to lose weight on this pill other than drink lots of water & eat somewhat healthy. Ha! Lets just face it, NOTHING works unless you have a healthy diet & exercise plan, at least not in my experience anyway!

In May 2014, my Dr flat out told me that I MUST lose weight. My body could not continue going down this path because it was breaking down from all of the weight I had been carrying & continued to gain. The choice was mine & there is no cure to the medical problems I have, so there really is only one viable option for me.... LOSE WEIGHT DUMMY! The Dr decided that the best option was weight loss surgery. I thought to myself, "Oh hey, I can do that. No problem. How hard can it be?" So I began the process. All sorts of appointments & preparation including educational classes. I am SO glad they made these educational classes a requirement because I learned soooo much! One of these classes was a nutrition class where I learned about a required pre & post surgery diet plan & a list of foods that I could have & could not have. I also met with the surgeon that told me I had to lose 9 pounds before they would go through with the surgery. I was like "ummm dude, if I could lose weight, I would not be here right now". Well, the pre-surgery diet actually helped me to lose those 9 pounds, BUT I could not come to terms with the LONG list of foods I had to give up..and for life!! So, I decided that I could not go through with the surgery. I was a little disappointed because I was looking forward to losing weight!

Jan 2, 2015 after meeting with my Dr & nutritionist, we modified my diet plan to a more "realistic" list of foods I could actually live with & without & Ive been on this "plan" ever since. I don't really like to call this a "diet plan" though because in my book this really isn't a diet because it doesn't even feel like one. Its simply changing my eating habits, that's all. I will tell you more about my eating habits in another post :)

End of April/Beginning of May 2015 - I implemented exercise!!
As I mentioned earlier, in my experience, nothing is going to work unless you have healthy eating habits AND you're exercising! When I began exercising, THAT is when I started to see results. THIS is when the motivation came & gave me the determination to keep going.

June 2, 2015, I was looking through some old photos & came across this one from 8/27/2005. I was remembering that I was at my thinnest post baby & almost meeting my high school weight. During this timeframe, I had also become a runner & LOVED working out at the gym. I remembered how good I felt in my own skin. So, on this day, I vowed to myself that I was going to start running again, so I went for a run, a short one! Its all history from there to the present!

As of today, August 24, 2015 I have lost 39 pounds. The pounds aren't falling off as fast as they were but that is because I have started lifting weights, and that's OK. What matters is that I am getting healthy & stronger! I still have a LONG road to travel to where I want to be comfortable in this skin again, but the more and more I keep going, the more and more I see results, the more and more I am gradually feeling better about everything.