What's inside my Easter basket?

Instead of eating a basket full of Peep's, Cadbury eggs, chocolate bunnies, jelly beans, and egg shaped Reese's and snickers bars this Easter, I thought I'd pick just one Easter sweet to enjoy.

I thought about it for a few days. I wanted to be sure I picked the right one. The one that would hit that Easter sweet tooth just right.

In the end, it was the chocolate Easter bunny that stole my heart. I just couldn't resist it's candy eyes, and those hollow milk chocolate bunny ears.I shared it with my hubby. I love him that much ;)
If you had to choose just one Easter treat, which would you choose?

Happy Easter!

I Know that my Redeemer lives.

XOXO

This weekend, we threw a Valentine's Day party!
It was high in calorie, but lots of fun. No matter what diet you're on, you have to allow yourself to indulge in a fountain of chocolate, every now and then. Life's just sweeter that way.Tonight I have a hot date with my sweet hubby.

Happy Valentine's Day!
XOXO

My Christmas Gift

Every year, on Christmas morning, my husband and I take pictures of each other tearing open our gifts. He insists on taking a picture of each and every Christmas present. When the presents have been opened, and all the "Oohs" and "Ahhs" have been said, I sit on the couch, and review all the pictures. And that is when I ruin my Christmas. One picture after another, I see a fat roll I didn't know I had, or a double chin I didn't realize was so big.
(Here I am on Christmas morning in 2008, trying on a jacket my husband got for me that didn't fit. Even though it was an extra large.)The rest of Christmas day would be spent with tears in my eyes. I'd be filled with regret, disgust, and hopelessness. Every year I would make a promise to myself, that next years Christmas morning photos would be double chin and fat roll free. And with that, I would never look at that years Christmas pictures again. I would pretend they never existed. I would pretend that the whole Christmas morning, at 200+ pounds never existed. I would simply look forward to next year. But guess what? Next year would be exactly the same.

Except for this year....

I spent most of my Christmas Eve this year, worrying about the Christmas morning pictures that would be taken. I had absolutely convinced myself that I was 206 pounds again. I had convinced myself that each and every picture would be included with fat rolls and double chins. On Christmas Eve, I tried bracing myself for the pain that I would feel, when I sat down in the morning to review the pictures. Christmas morning came, we went down stairs, tore into our gifts...and out comes the camera. And of course, my husband insisted on taking a picture of each and every present like he does every year. Afterwords, I sat on the couch as usual, to review the pictures. I braced myself to see something horrible. Instead, I saw something absolutely wonderful. I might even say, Beautiful.No double chins.

This was the first Christmas in 5 years, that I didn't cry when I saw our pictures. This is the fist year that I didn't spend the rest of the day in a depressed funk because of my weight. Instead, I spent the day feeling blessed and grateful for all the blessing I have in my life. I spent the day thinking about how far I've come, and how proud I was of myself. This year I didn't erase a single picture of myself. I didn't try and erase the entire Christmas morning from my mind. Instead, I played it over and over again.

I have lost 45 pounds this year.
That is one totally awesome gift!

12 Days of Christmas Cookies

(flickr)

I'm putting "Brittany's Kitchen Adventures" on hold this week (and next), to make room for
"12 Days of Christmas Cookies"!!

It's the season to be in the kitchen, baking up yummy, whimsical, Christmas cookies. Baking Christmas cookies always gets me
giddy with Christmas cheer. This year I've been taken over by the Christmas spirit yet again, but I've been trying to live without my traditional Christmas baking. Why? Cause I'm on a diet! And because of this, I felt like I couldn't take part in one of my favorite holiday traditions.

Well, that's proving to be no fun. Just because I'm on a diet, doesn't mean I need to sit out, and deprive myself from the joy I get from baking, and all the yummy Christmas goodness. All it means is, I have to find Deliciously Healthy Christmas cookies to make, and exercise moderation.

This Holiday season, we can give ourselves the gift of being healthy and reaching our goals, while still enjoying our holiday baking! We can have our Christmas cookies, and still look good for Santa ;D

I present to you,
12 Days of Christmas Cookies.
Everyday, for 12 days, I'm going to make lower calorie Christmas cookies.

The fun starts tomorrow, 12/07, and goes to Sunday 12/19

Tonight I'm working like Santa's little elves on Christmas Eve.
I'm finding lots of healthy and adorable Christmas cookies. It's been hard to narrow it down to just 12, but I think I have them picked out!

I'm so excited!

I can have one.

It's not the holidays, without
Queen Anne chocolate covered cherries.

It was practically a tradition at our house to eat a box (or two) of these every night, in the month of December.

This year, I can't eat an entire box of these, like years past.
But I can have one.

And I made sure to savour every bite of that one, delicious, chocolate covered cherry.

Here's how I eat my Queen Annes:

First, I bite off the top.
Then the cherry, and that delicious juice.
And last, but certainly not least, I eat the chocolaty shell.
And it makes me really happy.
You can still enjoy all your favorite seasonal treats.
Everything in moderation.

Happy holidays!

Easy Apple Dumplings, and my :Deliciously Healthy Thanksgiving Menu

The one and only Pioneer Women has this amazingly delicious apple dumpling recipe. It involves 2 sticks of butter,
1 1/2 cups of sugar, and 2 cans of mountain dew, among other things.

It's so good...but you know that's going to go
straight to my hips.

I also love her recipe, because it's very, very simple and quick. The prep time is seriously like 10 minutes.

Simple + Delicious = It has to find a place at my Thanksgiving table this year.

I just had to figure out how to lighten them up a bit.
A little less heart-attack in a casserole dish, and more Deliciously Healthy.

And I think that's exactly what I did.

I cut out some of the sugar, cut the butter in half, and used
apple cider in lieu of mountain dew.And it tastes exactly the same.
That always amazes me.

(because I was experimenting with this, I cut the recipe in half, making only 8 dumplings, instead of 16. I've listed the full recipe, but my pictures are of half the recipe)

Deliciously Healthy Apple Dumplings:

What you need:

• 2 granny smith apples
• 2 cans of Pillsbury crescent rolls
• 1 cup apple cider or apple juice
• 1 stick of smart balance buttery spread (it's half butter, half margarine... and half the cal.)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• cinnamon

What you do:
Preheat your oven to 350. Butter a 9x13 baking dish. Peel and core apples, then cut each apple into 8 slices, so you end up with 16 apple slices. Roll out the crescent roll dough. Then roll up an apple slice into each of the crescent rolls. Lay them side by side in your greased baking dish. Melt 1 stick of butter in sauce pan over low heat. When butter is melted, add apple cider, sugar, vanilla, and just barely stir together. You want it to be lumpy. Poor the mixture over the top of the dumplings. Sprinkle cinnamon over top, and bake for 30-40 minutes. Then get ready for some warm gooey goodness.
My husband may, or may not have screamed like a girl when he had one.I added a little low-fat whipped cream. It would be divine with vanilla ice cream.

info:
servings: 16
serving size: 1 dumpling
calories per serving: 230
How many calories are in a traditional slice of apple pie? 410!
I nearly cut the calories in half.
I'm making these apple dumplings in lieu of apple pie. Because by the time you're done eating your turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and everything else, there's just no room to eat 5 different kinds of pie. You always hope there's going to be, but there never is. These apple dumplings are going to be the perfect solution, to the too many pies problem. A slice of pumpkin pie, and one of these, and I'm
good to go.

What other Deliciously Healthy yumminess is going to be on my table?
Funny you should ask:

• Turkey, of course ;)
• Mashed potatoes
• Gina's stuffing
• Whole wheat rolls
• Cranberry sauce out of the can. Thanksgiving isn't thanksgiving to me, without a can shaped mold of cranberry sauce on the table.
• And pumpkin pie. This is going to be this Monday's kitchen adventure. Wish me luck, and tune in on Monday to see how it goes!

I hope everyone has a very happy, and healthy thanksgiving!

I heart eggnog.

When I was a kid, I thought eggnog was the grossest thing ever. I thought adults were insane for drinking it. Then, when I was older, a friend forced me to try it. I should send her a thank you note, because in that moment, I realized that
eggnog is awesome.

A couple days ago, that moment happened, that only comes but once a year. The moment when you're walking down the grocery store isle, and you see that eggnog is back! I love that moment. It's like when you see the 1st Christmas commercial of the season. I thought I'd have to pass on this holiday drink this year. It's so rich and creamy, sure it can't be good for a diet. But, I thought I'd at least stop and admire the assortment of eggnogs. And that's when I saw they had low-fat eggnog."Hmmm. Surely I can have this. But will it taste the same?"
Well, you never know until you try. So in the cart it went, along with my turkey, and other thanksgiving items.

As soon as I got home, I had me a glass. Hoping it would be as good as the regular eggnog, but preparing myself for disappointment.

It tastes exactly the same!
It's still rich, creamy, and taste like the holidays in a cup.
Only it has 55% less fat, and 32% fewer calories.
How do I know this?
Because it says so right on the carton. So convenient.

I put a little low-fat whipped cream in mine, because it's delicious.And it goes perfectly with a pumpkin cinnamon roll cupcake. I'm just sayin'.

What's the conclusion of this post?
The cool kids are drinking low-fat eggnog this year ;D

Are you an eggnog person?

Cleaning is Totally A Workout.

In case you were ever wondering.(I waited a little too long to take the pic, but I assure you I was pretty sweaty!)
It's awesome, because I'm getting two things that I don't like doing, done at the same time!

I would say it's like killing two birds with one stone. But don't you think that phrase is a bit...sad?
I'm just sayin'.

***

Today's weigh in had me at 169, for a 1 pound gain!
Yikes!

Saturday was my Birthday, and I think I went a little over bored on all the yummy birthday goodness!
TOM is also about to start here in a minute (not literally;), so that's probably playing some kind of role in that pesky 1 pound gain!

But aside from my birthday weekend, and TOM, the real problem is that I haven't been giving it 100% this week. I'm feeling all icky because of it too. I've had heartburn, tummy aches, and I'm feeling all bloated and just plain blah.

This week is going to be different!
Being Deliciously Healthy is my birthday present to myself!

My Deliciously Healthy Memorial Day

Today I made chicken, fruit, and dessert shish kabobs for memorial day!
They were delish! I was able to escape memorial day, without hamburgers and ice cream cones!For the fruit shish kabobs, I used srawberries, watermelon, and blackberries (I had a sudden craving for oranges, and wish I had bought some to add to the mix).

Then, for the dessert shish kabobs, I dipped strawberries, and marshmallows (cut into 1/3) in dark chocolate (I dipped the strawberries, and marshmallows half way into the chocolate)! It started out with strawberries, marshmallows, and bananas, but I wasn't feeling the bananas, so I left them out.
They were yummy! :
On a side note: I think it would be cute to put strawberries, marshmallows, and blueberries on a skewer for 4th of July!

Later on in the evening, the hubs took me shopping to get some workout gear!
Why do I need workout gear you ask?

Because I got me one of these! :A gym membership to Bally Total Fitness!

I've wanted to join a gym for forever but didn't because, A. with my RA I thought I wouldn't be able to really do much there, and so I was worried it would be a waste of money. And B. because I was/am horrified to go!

Now, after losing 35+ pounds, my knees have been feeling a lot better! I think I may actually be able to incorporate working out, into my weight loss plan! That's so exciting and rewarding for me! I've come so far (a tear;)! I'm proud of myself for facing my fears, and taking the first step: Getting the membership! Tomorrow I'm going to take the second step, and actually go workout!

My original plan was to get a gym membership, just so I could use the pool to do laps. That's still my main plan, as I think it'll be a great workout, and easy on my joints. Although while I was taking the tour of the gym, I saw some workout machines that I may be able to do with my arthritis. That would be a great bonus, if I'm able to take advantage of those spiffy little things! ;D

I'm still pretty darn nervous for tomorrow, but I'm working though it...
I feel like I'm in 1st grade, and tomorrow's my first day of school, lol!

I'm mostly nervous to swim. I can swim, but I don't know how to do the professional kind of swimming. I feel like a complete armature, and I totally don't know what I'm doing! You get a free session with a personal trainer, so I'm wondering if I can ask them to teach me how to use swimming as a workout. I feel stupid asking for that. I'm going to try talking to someone about it tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get it all figured out soon.

I also did my weigh in, on this Memorial Day.
171.
That's a 1 pound loss. I did pretty darn good this week, so I'm kinda confused. I know that the further you get in your weight loss, it tends to slow down a little bit. That's why it made me nervous that my weight loss started out at about 2 pounds a week. I thought, "Oh great! What's it going to slow down to?!" I feel that after losing 36 pounds, my weight loss has slowed to 1 pound a week. Although thus far, I've had little to no exercise. I'm hoping working out will give me the boost I need, to get back to a 2+ pound loss each week!

Well, that's it for me!

Wish me luck for tomorrow!

Hope you all had a great Memorial Day!(Flickr)

**Workout Update!**

I just got back from the gym! I survived!
It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Everyone didn't stop what they were doing to watch me enter the building, or pull up chairs to watch me workout, like I thought they would!
That's good ;D

I did 10 minutes on that thingy... what's it called? The elliptical?
And 10 minutes speed walking on the treadmill (well, at least speed walking for me)
I had planned to do more, but by the end of it, I seriously thought I was going to pass out! I have to take baby steps, to get to my goal... I'm not sure what that goal is, but I know it's more then 10 minutes on each machine, lol! I'd say for the first time working out in years, I did pretty good! It felt good to work up a sweat, and feel my heart racing!

I'm pretty darn proud of myself!

Woo Hoo!

I'm feeling a little sick today (Boo!), but I wanted to share a few things I have to celebrate!

First of all, we had a great, Deliciously Healthy Easter! WOO HOO! I hope you all did too!!

Secondarily, we had a great time visiting with my father-in-law!
As soon as he walked in the door, I announced that I was eating healthy! LOL! My husband laughed at me. I felt like I needed to just get it out there, without realizing how completely random it was! He was respectful, and supportive of the fact. While grocery shopping together, he would point out things that were healthy, and things that I should stay away from. It was kinda funny.

I ate really well when we were at home. When we went out to eat (3 times) I did pretty good sometimes, and not so good other times. But I think that's okay. The times I didn't do so well, I would try my best to make up for it at home, by eating REALLY healthy the next day.

I'd say it was a pretty successful week! I'm glad my father-in-law was able to come visit. I totally didn't need to stress about working in my diet while he was here, the way I did! I learned that you can enjoy visitors, and still eat healthy! Phew!

Another woo hoo, goes to my hubby! He graduated with his bachelors degree. He received high honors, with a 3.9 GPA!! WOO HOO! Is it bad of me to take a tiny bit of credit for that? Who do you think helped him study? MOI! ;D
Joking aside, I'm REALLY PROUD of him!!

I had wanted to wear my goal dress to my hubbies graduation, but I can't quite fit into it yet. That meant that I had to go dress shopping...I was seriously dreading it! The last time I tried dress shopping, I was 206, and it was a very depressing experience. I was expecting it to be much the same this time, forgetting that I was 25 pounds lighter!! It wasn't painful at all! It was quick, and easy, and no tears were shed in the fitting room. I walked out with this dress (in a large!):
My next big woo hoo, goes to my favorite Aunt, Aunt Flow! She is making an appearance this month!.... I'm pretty sure at least.

Hmm, how do I put this? I've seen glimpses of her, but she's not 100% here yet. You get me?
My poor blog readers have to read about me, and my period all the time. Sorry guys ;D

Last month, I was really upset that "it" didn't show up. Every day I would cross my fingers, hoping I'd have a period, but the month of March ended without a cycle. It was a huge let down for me. I just wanted my body to work the way it's supposed to, 2 months in a row. I had given up that I was going to have one for the month of April, May or June. I had convinced myself that having one in February was just a fluke. So, I'm pleasantly surprised, and proud of myself (in a funny way) that aunt flow came all on her own this month!! Since eating healthy, I've gone from having a period 1-2 times a year, to having one in November, February, and April!! WOO HOO!!

My last woo hoo, goes to my weigh in this morning. It wasn't exactly what I wanted to see, but I'm very happy with it.
My weigh in had me at 180! That means that in the week I had company over, and started my period, I still managed to lose 1 pound!! WOO HOO!

Even though I have a headache, and am not feeling so hot, I'm very happy, and pretty proud of myself today, as I reflect on everything there is to celebrate!!

***

Wondering what the heck to do with all your hard boiled Easter eggs?Eating Well, has the answer for you!

My Deliciously Healthy Easter Menu

It's almost Easter!
Can you believe it?!

Sadly, my father-in-law isn't going to be here for Easter. My husband and I learned the hard way that you should really look at the calendar, before booking a flight! For some reason, flights going out April 4th, were $100 cheaper...so we decided to be cheap. It wasn't until a couple weeks later that we realized we were making my poor Father-in-law spend his Easter in an airport! I still feel really bad... So, we're going to try and make up for it, by doing some Easter festivities on Saturday. We're going to go to the Butterfly Pavilion, eat a Deliciously Healthy Easter dinner, and paint Easter eggs!

This is our Easter Menu:

Chicken with Sugar Snap Peas & Spring Herbs
Glazed Mini Carrots
Smashed Potatoes with Sour Cream and Chives
And
Carrot Cupcakes for dessert!

There's only going to be 3 of us, so I think this should be enough. There are so many mouthwatering healthy recipes out there, I wish I could make more!

Recipes like these! :

Savory Peach Chicken
Minted Peas and Rice with Feta
Roasted Spring Vegetables with Arugula Pesto

Meringue-Topped Strawberries & Rhubarb
Raspberry Fool
YUM!!
These are definitely on my list of things to make this Spring!!

If you don't hear from me before Easter (hopefully you will. I mean you should, but just in case...;) I hope you all have a great Easter!!

Our Deliciously Healthy Valentine's Day

We had a GREAT valentine's day!Making a valentine's dinner at home, was WAY more fun then simply going out to eat! We spent about 2hrs in the kitchen making dinner and dessert. Those 2hrs had lots of laughter, good convo, and team work! Cooking with Joe, was my favorite part about valentines day! (to read about the rest of our valentine's day, you can go to my other little blog, HERE) Joe and I have decided that we're definitely going to have cooking dinner at home together, as an option on special occasions, way more often!For dinner, we made chicken enchiladas with green chili sauce!For dessert, we made ooey-gooey peanut butter chocolate brownies! (I scratched the cheesecake brownies, because they had coffee in them, and I didn't know what to substitute it with). These brownies we're DIVINE! Definitely ooey-gooey! They were slightly complicated to make, but for Joe and I, that made it more fun!Our brownies looked more like a chocolaty, marshmellowy, peanut buttery, pile of mess then a brownie, but I assure you, it was a delicious pile of mess! ;)

Sometimes I get my recipes from other places, but I change it up so much, that I think they're safe to call my own. Then I calculate the calorie difference between mine and the original. Because I change the recipes, I don't worry about copyright issues. BUT, I followed these 2 recipes pretty precisely ( I only changed 1 or 2 things). So to be on the safe side, I'm going to keep these recipes my little secret, so that a guy in a uniform won't show up at my door ;) They're in the, Best of Cooking Light cookbook, if you want to pick it up! Although...I have LOTS of changes in mind, for both of these recipes, so I may have my own version in the near future!

It was truly a great, and Deliciously Healthy valentine's day! I learned that you can still have fun, and enjoy special occasions without loading your body up with unhealthy goodness. You can have just as much fun, if not more, eating Deliciously Healthy! I love the peace of mind I had yesterday. I got to enjoy time with my husband, without obsessing, and worrying about calories, and fat, and how it was all going to show up on the scale! Those thoughts didn't even enter my mind! I went to bed satisfied, happy, and healthy!
Now I ask you- What could be better?! Seriously?
Oh, and we only spent $30 on the entire thing, instead of $60+!
LOVE IT!

The only thing that didn't quite compare to going out to eat, was not being able to leave the mess to waiters...
The not so fun aftermath: ;)
My calorie intake for the day, was about 1,400! Sweet!

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's day!
xoxo

I'm off to catch up on all of you!