Day 24

Gooey Pork Chops!!!  This was amazing!!!!!  I made this for dinner last night and the Hubs and I are still thinking about it.  I stumbled across a new blog Living a Changed Life, and Jennifer's journey and my journey sound very similar.  I will be posting several recipes from her page because I love them so much!

Ingredients
6 trimmed Bone-In Pork Chops (can substitute boneless)
1 tsp Ground black pepper
1 tsp Garlic powder
1 tsp Onion powder
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
2 10 oz. cans Campbell's Healthy Request Cream Mushroom Soup
1 packet Lipton dry onion soup mix

Instructions
Bake at 350 for 1 hour.Line 9x13 baking dish with heavy duty foil leaving 3 inches overhang on each end of dish.

Combine garlic powder, onion powder and black pepper together. Use as rub to one side of each chop.

Place chops in baking dish (may be a tight fit).

Coat chops with Worcestershire sauce.

Cover chops with Cream of Mushroom soup.

Sprinkle Dry onion soup mix over dish.

Cover with another piece of heavy duty foil, rolling edges of both pieces of foil together to seal chops totally.

Serves: 6; 5 pointsplus+

Day 23

Giuliana and Bill announced on the Today show this morning that they are expecting their first bundle of joy!!!!  I am beyond thrilled for them...as if they were my friends :-)  Although their journey is nothing like my journey the end goal is the same for both us...to have a baby.  Knowing they are finally expecting and the baby is healthy gives me a little more hope for my own situation. Congratulations Giuliana and Bill you deserve all of the joy life has to offer!!!

Day 22

When it rains it pours!  Our two cars are both 2003.  My car is a hyundai accent, we call it the golf cart, and it as 110,000 miles on it.  My Husband's car is a Nissan Murano and has 171,000 miles on it.  Having a car payment is not an option for us right now!  I'm in denial that soon one day one of our cars will die and we will need a new car.  Well that time may have come.  Last weekend the check engine light came on in the murano.  That last time this happened it was just in need of an oil change.  We took it to get the oil changed late last week and they couldn't find anything wrong with it.  They flushed the fuel line but that was it.  We figured we need need to take it back to the deal to get it checked out but neither of us has time to be without a car for a few days.  Well the car has made the decision for us and has decided to crap out.

While driving the youth group to lunch today it started to sputter and shake when I pushed the gas or it was idling at a stop light.  It wasn't able to drive faster than 45mph without feeling like it was going to fall apart.  So tomorrow morning, bright and early, we are going to take the car to the shop.  I feel like this time it is going to be something major and I'm nervous about it.

The car plans might but a hold on our house plans if we end up needing to buy a car.  The stalled house plans will put a hold on our adoption plans...ugh.  I'm looking for the silver lining...

Day 21

Does anyone remember Dance work out with Barbie? haha  I had this video when I was younger and did it with my friends :-)

I forced myself to work out yesterday.  I saw this workout plan on Pinterest and thought it was easy and didn't need any equipment and I could do it while watching TV.  

1 Set

15 jumping Jacks

15 push ups

15 crunches

15 squats

I did 5 sets.  The hardest thing to do for me was push ups....15 pushups the first set wasn't too bad but by the last couple of sets my arms were shot and I could only do a couple each set.

Day 16

Day 20

I love my Skillet!!!  If I can make dinner in one pot I will.  I love casseroles because it all goes together but most casseroles are unhealthy.  Here are my top skillet and casserole recipes:

Taco Bake Casserole

This was my grandma's recipe that she made for my dad when he was younger. However the way she made it was REALLY bad for you.

Brown ground beef or turkey in a pan and season with a taco seasoning packet or add your own taco seasoning blend.  Meanwhile in a baking pan line with crescent roll dough.  Place baking pan in the oven for about 5 minutes before adding the meat.  Layer the meat on top of the dough.  Top the the ground meat with low fat cheddar cheese and crunched up Doritos.  I basically use the amount of Doritos in a single serve bag like from subway. Put back in the oven for 20-30 minutes until the cheese is just starting to bubble and brown.  Serves 6-8.

Italian Skillet

Brown ground beef or turkey in your skillet.  Add green beans, corn and mushrooms and season with Italian seasonings.  once the meat is browned add a can of tomato sauce.  Serve over brown rice.  Serves 4.

Day 19

The Shrek Smoothie!!!!  A friend of mine a few months ago introduced me to the Shrek Smoothie.  I thought she was crazy because no way could this be good....Boy was I wrong!  There are probably 100 variations of making the Shrek smoothie but this is how I like to make mine.

In a Blender throw in about a hand full of bagged baby spinach,  (don't use frozen) 4 baby carrots, 4 apple slices and water or milk.  The variations I add are any combo of bananas, blueberries, pineapple, mango, yogurt, milk, protein powder, peanut butter.  Sometimes I will do a splash of vanilla extract if i use extra spinach.  I also will add a packet of Stevia or a squeeze of honey.  Be aware that when you start mixing fruit colors your smoothie will turn more brown than green.  This freaked my husband out a little bit. :-)