Peach cobbler is one of those comfort foods that I can remember eating ever since I was a little girl. My mom and I would share a peach cobbler from Bill Miller’s in San Antonio. Or we’d buy those frozen ones and just nom nom nom at Sunday dinner. It’s sweet, gooey, satisfying. Plus it’s like a treasure hunt to eat all that delicious crust or crisp. Oh. Love.

Most recipes call for a ton of sugar, butter, and all those sinfully delicious things that should be had very rarely. Well. Not anymore. I’ve been inspired so much in the kitchen after watching Kelsey’s Essentials on the Cooking Channel. She’s energetic, insightful, and really has empowered me to experiment in the kitchen and be fearless. She’s invigorated how I feel about food. If you haven’t watched her show, I highly recommend it. I never fail to learn something, and she’s the one that inspired me to buy some cast iron skillets. I cook everything in them now, and I’m just in love. I bought my cast iron skillets at Marshall’s for very little money. The small one I used in this recipe was $8 and the larger one was $15. What a bargain!

One Sunday evening, my usual sweet treat craving kicked in and I had some peaches I needed to use stat. I experimented and out came this dish I am sharing with you today. It’s got the sweet, gooey, juicy, crispy and awesome taste/texture of a peach cobbler or crisp without all the guilt. Truly I think you could swap the peaches for apples or even pears and it’d be just as divine. With fall right around the corner, these sorts of desserts become my go-to favorites. Feel free to double or triple the recipe to serve more people. Betcha they won’t know it’s light!

You can even top this with ice cream or light whipped cream for a bit of extra decadence. Dig in!

Let me ask y’all: What are your favorite pies or cobblers? I love peach cobbler, but boy could I eat apple pie everyday. Sigh.

RECIPE:

DeLIGHTful Peach Crisp (Cobbler): Peach cobbler doesn't have to be loaded with fat and calories. This version uses simple ingredients to amp up the flavor and tone down the calories. Enjoy!

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 20-25 minutes

Total time: 30 minutes

Yield: 2 Servings

Ingredients:

• Filling:
• 1 pound of peaches (3 large)
• 1 tbsp. cornstarch
• 1/4 cup Splenda
• Dash of nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 tsp. dark brown sugar
• 1 tbsp. butter extract
• 1 tbsp. water
• Topping (Optional):
• 1/4 cup quick cook oats
• Dash of cinnamon
• 1/4 cup of Splenda 
• 2 tsp. dark brown sugar
• 1/2 tbsp. butter

Cooking Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grab a small (8") cast iron skillet or a pie dish. Make sure it's well greased/floured. I use flour baking spray on my glass dishes.
2. Slice all your peaches. I left the skin on, but do what you wish. Incorporate all the ingredients together in a bowl and ensure all the peaches are well coated. Pour peach mixture into dish. Put into the oven for about 15 minutes.
3. Grab a small bowl and mix everything together for your optional topping. Pull the cobbler out of the oven and sprinkle the topping all over. Pop into oven for another 7-10 minutes or until the topping is nice and crisp/oats are golden brown.
4. This recipe serves 2 people. Top with light whipped cream and enjoy!

I told you all I was going to keep you all updated during my sugar detox.

Today SUCKS y’all. Ohmyword.

Conversations with me today went something like this:

Random Co-Worker: “Hey Monica! I have something really important to talk to you about. Blah Blah Blah… <I stop listening> So, what do you think?!”

Me: “Did you say you had donuts?”

Random Co-Worker: “Um, no, I said that <I tune out again here>. You understand?”

Me: “Donut.”

Yeah.

Apparently no carbs makes me delirious, angry, sad, angry, repetitive, angry, and I lost all ability to focus and concentrate on anything.

Donut.

MAKE THIS STOP! I even told my friend today: “I’m so sorry for the words I’ve spoken out of hunger.”

I’m not going to lie—I am damn miserable. Blah. RAWR!

Things I’ve noticed since I’ve stopped eating delicious carbs:

• My head hurts like whoa.
• Everyone is my enemy.
• No one has donuts. EVER.
• This is awful.
• My skin is slightly freaking out…in a bad way.
• I don’t look like Jessica Alba.
• Everything takes an extraordinary amount of effort.
• Coffee tastes awful.
• I just wanna lay down and sob.

Have I mentioned it’s only been like 36 hours? How do people do this for long periods of time? People tell me there will be a puppies, sunshine and rainbows feeling soon, and it cannot come soon enough. Tonight I’m having a drink with one of my dearest pals, and thank goodness she insists on picking me up to show off her new ride. Because honestly, if I have to drive myself anywhere, I’m going straight to the donuts.

Does this get easier? Is this worth it? Why do so many documentaries say wheat/gluten/carbs are poison? Is that true? But isn’t all this meat product equally bad for me? Maybe moderation is OK, and I should stop the madness.

Someone just pass me a freakin’ donut.

The past 36 hours I have had the headache from hell. Like absolutely miserable. No amount of advil is working. Ohmygoshhelp.

So, I decided to make matters worse by doing a sugar detox. Yeah. I apparently want to have a terrible headache and be a cranky person. You’ve been warned everybody! Stay away from Monica.

I’ve been professionally trying to lose weight for, oh, like ever, so it’s always on my darn mind. Lose weight. Lose weight. Lose weight. Oh a donut! Lose weight. Hey, beer time! Lose weight. That’s a glimpse of my psyche right there. Ugh. So this year, I had managed to lose about 17 pounds, and now I’m at only 9 pounds loss, which means…lose weight. Obviously whatever I am doing is just not working, and I think the culprit is carbs. Not all of them, but the refined, delicious ones. Like donuts. Which I love. A lot.

I love donuts so much that I look forward to the fateful day in August when Bath & Body Works releases their cinnamon sugared donut scented candle. Judge away. Even worse, I snag all those suckers up once they go on clearance. I’m literally hoarding one right now in my home office. Maybe I’ll light that and sniff it when I get a donut craving.

{Photo credit}

With great triumphs, comes great sacrifice. And I’m willing to sacrifice refined sugars to see if I feel better. Well, honestly how could I feel worse? For real, y’all. I was on vacay in Houston with my pal last month, and while she was shopping away at most stores, I was sitting on a bench outside the store waiting for her because none of the clothes in there fit me. None. And how pitiful is it to google, “Plus size stores in Houston Galleria?”

The answer: hardly any unless you’re over 60 or want to look like a plus size prostitute. I prefer neither of those, thankyouverymuch!

I’m tired of being the DFF. Designated fat friend. I WANT TO SHOP AT NORMAL STORES! Oh, and yeah, I’m not talking about the plus size section at the JCP at La Palmera Mall—it’s upstairs, in a dark corner, sequestered with the maternity clothes, in the ONE PART of the store that has not been renovated. Oh, oh, and…!!! The fitting rooms are not air conditioned because they want us fluffies to sweat. I know I need to, but maybe not while I’m trying on clothes I haven’t even purchased, mkay, JCP?

But I digress.

I really do think that too many carbs and sugars have led my body to store fat despite my best efforts at calorie counting. This can lead to insulin resistance and diabetes. No thank you. Maybe for the first time in my life, my desire to be healthy is trumping my desire to be thin and shop at normal stores.

Here’s my plan of action for the next week:

• No pasta, bread, sweets, refined sugars, etc.
• I can eat fruit and nuts. And veggies, of course.
• Lean proteins.
• Nothing fried!
• I’m not quitting my diet soda for fear of committing a crime out of anger/hunger, but am limiting myself to 1-2 a day.
• Alcohol in moderation (though I will try to avoid it)
• Water, water, water! With lemon. :)
• I can still use honey/splenda, sparingly.
• Non-fat, unsweetened yogurt is OK.
• I’m reading this book and this book to remind myself that science backs this up.

Nothing crazy. Or at least not to me. Some of the sugar detox plans called for like no fruit, no honey, no caffeine, no artificial sweeteners…Once you start telling me what I can’t have, I obsess over it. I think this one-week trial is enough to get my foot in the door of trying to cut out some of the things I know are just not good for me. And then I can cut some more later. You can view my daily food diary over on MyFitnessPal and feel free to friend me if you’d like.

I’ll be blogging/tweeting about my progress, so if you want to cheer me on, please do so. I really hope this helps my constant headaches, oily skin and acne issues. Plus, I am so tired, cranky, and generally just not the woman I’d like to be because of all this junk in my body. Maybe I do have a gluten issue or am insulin resistant, so this will help no matter how I look at it. Lastly, this gets me started on a semi-paleo/gluten free/low carb lifestyle that I’d like to adopt forever. If you want proof that Paleo/gluten free can be delicious, please visit Juli’s blog: PaleOMG.com. (Thanks @FlamingoToes_ for the rec!)

Tortillas, I will miss thee!

Have you tried to combat a sugar addiction? Any tips, helpful blogs, success stories, or donut recipes that aren’t made with flour/gluten/sugar would be lovely.

At Walgreens, my husband and I are usually there for only one of 3 reasons.

1.) There’s a make-up sale. (Ok, that’s more me than my hubby.)

2.) We have a Redbox movie to return.

3.) Butter cake.

You see, Walgreens makes this delicious, pre-packaged butter cake that is irresistible. It’s flaky, sweet, buttery and about $1.29 each or you can buy 2 for $2.

Let’s face it…we buy 4.

Did I also mention my weight loss has sucked the past few months? Yeah. Wonder why.

Then I saw a recipe in Better Homes & Gardens’ May 2013 issue for gooey butter bars. They look JUST LIKE the morsels of awesomeness we love from Walgreens. Then I read the nutritional information- one 9x13 pan makes 24 bars for 209 calories each. Now, I’m no math whiz, but those would be some tiny squares. Even the cakes from Walgreens are like a 3x3” square for 220 calories.

So, I did what Monica does best. I found a way to lighten it up while still retaining that gooey, buttery, melt in your mouth flavor.

My recipe makes 15 decently sized squares for about 220 calories a piece (with strawberry topping), and you likely have all the ingredients at home already. To make it a bit more dessert-esque without a ton of calories, I made a strawberry topping for it. The end result is a buttery, flaky, shortbread like bar that is simple, sweet, tasty and perfect with a glass of iced tea. A southern treat for sure.

Here’s what you need (recipe adapted from Better Homes & Gardens’ May 2013 issue):

Crust:

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1.5 cups of flour
• 1/2 cup of butter

Bars:

• 2/3 cup softened butter
• 1.25 cups of Splenda for baking
• 1/4 light corn syrup
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup flour
• 2/3 cup half and half

Strawberry Topping:

• 8 oz of sliced strawberries
• 1/4 cup of Splenda

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. To make the crust, you combine the flour and sugar together. Then, using a pastry blender or your clean, dry hands, incorporate the butter until it’s all nice and finely crumbled together. Get a 9x13 pan lined with parchment paper, and pat your crust down.

Now for the bars, beat the softened butter with a hand mixer for about 30 seconds. Gradually add in the Splenda. Once that’s all mixed well, add in the corn syrup, egg, and vanilla extract. Alternately add in the flour and half and half and continue beating it all together. Your mixture may look a bit thick and curdled, which is ok. Carefully spoon the mixture over the crust and pop in the oven for about 30 minutes.

While that’s baking, put your sliced strawberries in a sauce pan with the Splenda. Simmer on medium until the strawberries and Splenda reduce to a nice topping consistency. If you like your sauce a little more saucey, add in about a tbsp of water. I chilled my topping in the freezer for about 15 minutes while my bars cooled.

Once your bars are cool, cut into 15 squares, top with some strawberries and enjoy!

My favorite part about this is definitely the crust, but even more so, the topping! The sauce seeps into the butter bar and it’s heaven on a plate.

The flavor profiles are amazing. Butter, strawberries, and a flaky crust. Delish! Plus, by swapping some of the sugar for Splenda, we get to eat a bit more and save calories. I’m all for that.

Sigh. I can’t wait to whip up another batch of these. Who needs Walgreens, right?

This is a simple treat that is sure to please anyone. Maybe you’ll try it out this summer at a BBQ or something.

And while we’re cutting calories and trying to be healthy this summer, I thought I’d mention Diet To Go’s Summer Shape-Up sweepstakes on Facebook. You can enter to win one month of meals. You can read official rules right here. Good luck!

What’s your favorite summer treat?

My weight loss update is that I have no update. I seriously started off so well, and then I really struggled in March due to bronchitis. Then in April all hell broke loose in some areas of my life, so I was just trying to survive and weather the storm. Now in May, it’s been equally chaotic, and I’m just blessed that by some reason I haven’t gained it all back.

The most weight I had lost was 17 pounds, and right now I’m sitting at 14 pounds lost. In like 5 months.

Ugh that’s awful. I’ve been committed to keeping track of everything I eat, even if it’s unhealthy or over my calories, just to kind of keep myself cognizant of what I’m eating. I think in doing that, I was able to figure out the calories I can eat at to maintain my weight…that in itself is something, right?

And the icing on the cake (that I wish I was eating right now) is that I sprained my ankle not once, but twice in a less than 10 days. Because I’m just that cool. Yeah. And the most recent sprain was last Thursday, and I’m still hobbling around. Fun!

So stress + illness + injury= no weight loss. Ya know, in case you were wondering.

This week, I’ve really tried to get my calories back down to about 1800 calories since I’m not exercising, and by golly, I am trying to drink water. I have so much trouble with water, it’s odd. Bur diet pepsi? Oh boy can I chug those down fairly easy.

I’ve also let my blogging subside for awhile, but I miss it. I have so many in progress projects around the house that I hope to tackle this weekend so I can finally get back into a groove. I feel like in March, April and May, I’ve just let myself get too wrapped up in things that I shouldn’t be bringing home. I have a home, a husband, a life, and I've let recent things affect that.

Well not anymore. I want to be happy, I want to live the life I’ve always wanted to live, and I want to lose weight. In all likelihood, I will not lose the 90 pounds I wanted to lose this year, but hopefully in the months of June-December, I can lose another 30 pounds or so, and I’ll have to continue on this journey next year. And the year after that.

I guess my question to you lovely people is this:

1.) What can I do to still exercise even with a sore/sprained ankle? Besides walking…

2.) How do you balance your work/private life to stay happy?

I’d love your thoughts! I’ll be back soon with some exciting reviews and giveaways.

Love you all oodles.

-Monica

Hi everyone! I’m here to give you all my review of my new Fitbit Zip. Now, I will totally be upfront with you all about 2 things.

1.) I paid for this myself.

2.) I did so much research before buying this damn thing that it is SHAMEFUL.

So about #2… I was debating between a Bodybugg, Fitbit One, and the Fitbit Zip. I pretty much scratched off the Bodybugg from my list really quickly because they require a subscription fee to access all the data, and I found the armband to be rather obnoxious. I didn’t want it to be totally obvious that I was wearing a weight loss/fitness device, especially at work. Not that I am embarrassed, but I just didn’t want the extra attention or looks. No thanks!

Then I started debating between the Fitbit One and the Fitbit Zip. Now, without going into a ton of details, here are the main differences between the 2 devices:

-Price: The Fitbit Zip is about $60 and the Fitbit One is about $100.

-The Fitbit One tracks your sleeping patterns, stairs/floors climbed, and has a vibrating alarm to gently wake you up in the morning.

-Both track your steps, distance traveled, and calories burned.

At first, I was thinking of splurging on the Fitbit One, because hey for $40 I get a bit more data. Then I started thinking that I don’t really climb stairs (none at home or work), and that I don’t really think I would do much with sleep data. To me, my sleep is what it is. I try to get as much as I need, but I have a 99-cent sleep app that really gives me all the information I care to know.

So I finally decided on the Fitbit Zip. The MSRP is about $60, although Amazon has them at about the $50 range. Honestly, I am a total cheap ass because spending money STRESSES ME OUT. Like I seriously will agonize over $4 cosmetics at Walgreens. I guess it’s because I grew up that way, and I am still that way now. I call it thrifty.

Yeah. $50. Ugh. I waited.

I was at Target on my birthday, and I saw that they had the blue Fitbit Zip for $35…but they were all sold out. I checked my Target app, and sure enough both Targets we frequent were sold out. Curses.

Not one to be deterred, I checked the Target app again about a week later when we were in another city and BAM! They had 2. I snagged one up, and now I’ve had this little guy for almost 2 weeks.

Here’s what I love:

• It’s made me walk more. I used to avoid getting up at work to go do mundane tasks, and now I actively look for opportunities to get more steps in. Same thing at home. If I forgot something in another room, I am eager to get up and get it. It’s weird how a little device can make me want to work harder. It is really hard to get 10,000 steps a day on days I don’t exercise. I am lucky if I hit 5K. Hmph.
• I feel it’s accurate. I truly do. I don’t think it’s giving me extra steps or anything.
• The calories burned information is so valuable! I’ve been struggling with weight loss lately, so it’s nice to be able to look at data and develop a game plan. Looking at a week’s worth of data, I see I burn about 2100-2500 calories a day. This helped me come up with my daily calorie goal to help me lose 1 to 1.5 pounds a week. Before my Fitbit, I was relying on internet calculators to help me determine that.
• I clip it onto my bra in the morning, and I don’t think about it until I shower or change for bed. The little clip is super snug, so I am not at all worried about losing it. If you’re a guy, you can clip it to your waist band/belt.
• I can check my stats by either looking at my Fitbit screen or just checking my iPhone 4S. It uses bluetooth technology to sync with my iPhone so I can see if I need to get up and be more active, etc. HOWEVER, the Fitbit Zip can only do this with iPhone 4S and 5 (don’t know about Android phones, sorry!) because it requires some sort of fancy new bluetooth technology. It does come with a bluetooth dongle to be able to sync wirelessly using a computer. :)
• No need to remember to charge it; it uses a replaceable watch battery that has to be replaced every 6 months or so.
• No fancy subscription required.
• Totally syncs with MyFitness Pal flawlessly!

Here’s what I don’t love:

• Not waterproof! Not that I swim,  but if I accidentally leave this on a bra and throw it in the wash…bye, bye Fitbit Zip!
• Not backlit. If I want to check my stats in the dark (without my iPhone), it’s nearly impossible.

That’s pretty much it. I absolutely love this little gadget, and I think it would totally be worth the $50-$60. Will the novelty wear off? Hhmm. Maybe. I don’t know, I’m pretty determined to lose 100 pounds and have like 87 to go, so I think this will be a fun way to stay motivated and beat my previous weeks, etc. On the Fitbit website you can create a profile and add friends and such so you can get uber competitive if you want. Here’s the link to my Fitbit profile if you want to friend me.

I read some reviews that called this a fancy pedometer, and I would disagree. If you really drill down into the data and features, it’s truly a valuable health tool. You don’t even have to want to lose weight to find the data useful.

I guess the other bad thing is that now I really want the Fitbit Aria scale so I can really over analyze all the data!

If you have any questions, leave them in the comments or email me at monicawantsit@gmail.com :)

Would you want a Fitbit Zip?

Hi everyone! It’s been awhile since I updated my blog, and it’s been purposeful for the most part.

This month has been crazy, but I’ve so missed writing to you all. Today I’m here to give an update on my 8-week weight loss journey.

Since January 1, 2013 (8-weeks ago), I’ve lost 13.2 pounds. That equates to about 1.65 pounds per week, which is pretty darn fantastic. In my ideal world, I would have lost 10 pounds a week and be DONE, but alas, that is now how weight loss works.

Picture: Taken 2/1/13, my first day of Turbo Fire.

I’ve been counting calories on My Fitness Pal, which is by far my most favorite and FREE way to lose weight. Feel free to friend me on there, I don’t bite.

It blows my mind that My Fitness Pal is so amazing and costs me zero money. The first 4 weeks of my weight loss, I lost about 10.2 pounds with Turbo Jam doing the advanced rotation. In February, I switched to Turbo Fire and have only lost 3 pounds. Turbo Fire is essentially Turbo Jam on crack. I’ll do more in-depth reviews of both in an upcoming post.

I never thought I’d be able to do Turbo Fire, and it’s quickly become my most favorite workout of all time. It’s so fast-paced and you never do anything for a super long time, so it moves by so quickly. Yet my weight loss has totally slowed down since I switched programs. I’d like to say I’ve kept measurements, but alas, I have not. I suck at taking measurements because I half-way suck it in, or I don’t know if I should measure between rolls or above rolls.

Complicated, I tell ya.

I did take before and after pics, and I don’t see a huge difference yet. Hmph.

As soon as I am done with this blog post, I am going to take measurements just for my sanity. My pants feel a little looser every week. It’s funny because before I started on my weight loss journey (for the 1.8 billionth time), I was like squeezing into my pants. Like, shimmying them over the hips, laying down, sucking it in, doing squats to make those suckers fit. Now, straight out of the dryer, they fit loose. Progress!

However, I am fairly certain my weight loss may go faster if I totally gave everything I had with my eating habits, but I told myself I wouldn’t force myself to be a saint knowing very well that it wouldn’t be something I could do forever. I still eat out. I still drink. I still eat sugar and carbs. But I do eat less of those things I love. I cut my restaurant portions in half. I have switched from margaritas with salt over to beer with lime. A donut is a once-every-2-weeks treat rather than a 2-3 times a week occurrence. Moderation is the name of my game. I also don’t eat 1200 calories a day…I eat closer to 1700-2000. I know if I cut out all those things, I probably would have lost more weight by now. But I’d also be very grumpy and ready to cave at any second.

So, 13.2 pounds down, about another 85-90 pounds to go. This is going to take awhile, and maybe that is the most discouraging part on any given day. The fact that although 8 weeks have passed, I probably have another 60, 70 or 80 weeks until I reach my goal. But if I stop now, eventually that time will pass, and then I’d have to start over again.

I’m not going to let that happen. I look forward to week-9 because it brings me my 28th birthday next Friday, March 8. One of my 30 before 30 goals is to finally be at a healthy weight. I think I’m going to get there this time.

Hope you’ll stick along with me on these pages for the ride.

The next few posts will be about some awesome fitness headbands (see photo below), a cool desk I made, and maybe I’ll finally finish the damn master bedroom makeover and take photos.

Progress.

Picture: Taken 2/20/13, after 20 days of Turbo Fire.

It’s funny how many people tweeted, wrote or Facebooked me to ask, “What are those meals you’ve been eating?”

Well, I was sent 4 days of food from DietToGo.com to review and give my honest opinion about. I finished the meals about a week and a half ago, but I am just now getting some time to write about my experience. Work is CRAZY INSANE. Everytime I think it’s going to settle down a bit, it so doesn’t.

So, I didn’t want to do the review rushed/halfway when I knew I wanted to point out some things.

I didn’t take pictures of all my meals because I get hungry and forget, but I did luckily get pictures of my favorite meals. That is one thing I will honestly say—the majority of the meals were TASTY. There were a few that I hated purely because it’s just not stuff I would normally, ever eat. Those dishes were a quinoa salad thing and a greek breakfast burrito. I tried to eat those and just could not. But if you like those foods, you might enjoy those dishes.

Here’s one of my favorite meals…it’s a reuben sandwich. I left off the salad thing that went on it to make it a reuben, so this was like a tasty grilled sandwich to me. The bread was like french toast and the cheese was plentiful and really gooey and yummy. Two thumbs up! It came with a fruit salad on the side that was super sweet and tasty.

While I thought the dinners and lunches were good overall, I thought where Diet To Go would prove really valuable for me personally is breakfast. Somehow that is the meal I have trouble with. I either eat something bland and am hungry, or I splurge and blow my whole day. The Diet To Go breakfasts were all A+ in my book (minus the greek breakfast burrito).

I tried 2 different kinds of muffins, and they were good. Now, the texture is different than a bakery muffin, but I sort of expected that because these are WAY lower in calories. The muffins were dense, in a good way, so they took me awhile to eat and digest. I was full with just the muffin. I want to know what magical stuff is in there, because I wasn’t expecting to be that satiated with a muffin. The muffin breakfast pack also came with juice (which I gave to the hubby) and yogurt. Simple, but tasty.

I thought the muffins were as good as it gets, but wait…the waffles. OH MY GOSH THE WAFFLES!

Sooooo good.

I stuck the breakfast pack in my purse on my way to work:

Then I dug in once I got to my desk:

So. Darn. Good. Delicious. Chewy. Filling. Sigh. I want more waffles. I could eat them everyday. The portion was uber generous.

Now I know a lot of you may be asking yourself if I think it’s a good value. Well, I got 4 days for free, and honestly… I liked it. It was nice to be heading out in the morning and just grab a breakfast. For lunch it was easy to just pick what I wanted to eat. It’s easy, and when I figured out the cost, it’s a bit better of a value than eating out at a restaurant…

And then there’s the sodium issue. Yes, there is a lot of sodium. There’s no way to prance around that issue. The way I look at it is that McDonald’s may be cheaper, and have just as much sodium, and maybe a Subway sub has less calories but more sodium. It is a concern though, and one I know so many people have. I feel you. I looked at the sodium and just drank more water, but yes, I was concerned.

Yeah. I don’t know what more to say about the sodium. There’s so many aspects to losing weight, and it’s hard to be perfect on all of them. My focus is calories in vs. calories out, try to make healthy choices, and exercise often.

You should do what’s best for you. Do I think that Diet To Go can help people lose weight? Absolutely. It takes the guess work out of it, it’s all there for you. Do I think it’s expensive? Yes and no. I think the meals are well thought out and coordinated, pretty filling, and it’s a tool to help keep calories under control, and if you want to lose weight, this might be a good way of doing it.

The food is tasty, and I wish they had a breakfast only plan.

Or if they just want to send me muffins, I’m down with that, too. And waffles, please.

I know many of you were waiting for my review, and I hope that I covered all my bases, but if you want to ask me a question, leave it in the comments and I’ll reply there. Or you can also email me privately at monicawantsit@gmail.com

I know what you’re thinking. Did Monica REALLY just type spinach, bacon and HEALTHY all in title?

Yeah, I totally did.

This recipe is hands down one of my favorite meals on earth now, which makes it all the more weird that when my pal Lindsey suggested it, I was like, “Hell to the no.”

I was wrong. My recipe is actually an adaptation/revision of Giada’s version because I didn’t want goat cheese, and I didn’t want that much garlic. The end result of this pasta is a healthy, creamy, tasty and filling pasta dish that is cheap and quick. I swear even those of you who hate green veggies will LOVE this pasta because of all the flavor. Just try it, would ya? Now, I did add bacon, because seriously, what doesn’t taste good with bacon? But, you can omit it and it’s still fab. And hey, without bacon, this pasta dish is perfect for meatless Mondays or vegetarians.

Ingredients:

-1 box of pasta (16 oz.)

-1 bag of spinach (6 oz.)

-3 oz. of light cream cheese

-2 peeled garlic cloves

-3/4 tsp salt

-1/2 tsp black pepper

-Parmesan cheese (optional)

-8 slices of bacon (optional: try to pick bacon that’s 70 calories or so for 2 slices)

-Sun dried tomatoes (optional)

1.) If you’re going to make bacon, go ahead and cook that up however you’d like. I personally prefer the oven method (425 degrees, 10 minutes-ish). Once your bacon is cooked, pat excess grease with paper towels and crumble it up. Set aside.

2.) Boil your water, throw in pasta til cooked.

3.) Add your cream cheese, garlic, 1/2 of your spinach leaves, salt & pepper and pulverize! Put the other half of your spinach leaves in the bottom of a bowl where your pasta and such can fit, too.

This is what I use as my food processor/power whisk/milkshake maker/immersion blender. This one tool does SO many things for me that it kind of renders so many other of my small appliances useless. Money well spent, I love this thing. It has never failed me. I gush over this thing. GUSH. It is such a time saver and it’s under $35 for essentially 4 appliances. Cuisinart- I loves you!!

I toss my ingredients into the food processor attachment and it’s done it seconds. I will say I add a little bit of spinach at a time  (about 3 batches) to ensure it all gets mixed well.

Here’s what it looks like once it’s done.

4.) Once your pasta is done, drain as usual, BUT reserve about 1/2 cup of starchy water in case you need to add it to make your sauce a little more “saucy”. I’ve never had to add more than a tiny splash of water, but ya never know.

Put the bacon crumbles over the spinach leaves in the bowl…

Pour the pasta over the bacon/spinach and add the sauce.

Mix, mix, mix!

Plate up and enjoy! Such a simple, healthy, quick, cheap meal for those weeknights where you just don’t have energy to do more than boil some water. We love to have some garlic bread on the side, and we grate up fresh parmesan cheese and put some sun dried tomatoes on top. Gourmet taste for so little money. Yum. Yum. Yum.

And seriously, aren’t the colors beautiful? That’s my fave thing about cooking with fresh foods- such beautiful colors on the plate.

The calorie counts are pretty low for the amount of food you get. I divided the recipe into 4, and the portions are HUGE!

Without Bacon:

With Bacon:

Just add the bacon, people!

Well, I hope you enjoy this recipe and you’ll add it to your repertoire. I’m sure glad I did, thanks Lindsey!

Be back tomorrow with a quick review on Diets To Go and an update about my weight loss progress. Squee!!

I was sent a fabulous pack of Balance Bar® products to try to help me stick to my New Year’s Resolutions. The variety pack I was sent included a pair of each of the following: Peanut Butter, Chocolate Mint Cookie Crunch, Blueberry Acai and Cookie Dough & Double Chocolate Brownie Minis (<---only 100 calories each!).

I’ve seen Balance Bar® in stores, but have never tried them until I was sent this variety pack. My absolute fave is the Double Chocolate Brownie Mini—I eat half before a workout and I eat the other half right after. My 2nd favorite is the Blueberry Acai bar—it’s become my go-to 3 p.m. snack. It satisfies my sweet tooth and keeps me satiated until dinner time at 6 or so.

But my favorite thing about Balance Bar® is that the bars are all reasonable/low in calories, and have a perfect amount of fat/protein/carbs plus vitamins and minerals. And, to be honest, some of the varieties are pretty darn close to being better than a candy bar. Sweet and satisfying.

Since I am trying to calorie count/do Weight Watchers, these bars don’t break the bank like some others I’ve seen. The most they have is around 200 calories and the mini’s have 100. Perfect as snacks or a quick breakfast. They’ve made it a tad easier and convenient to stick to my New Year’s Resolution of losing mucho weight.

Also included in my goody box of bars were some tips to help “outlast” my New Year’s Resolution. In 2011 I pretty much caved in April, and in 2012 I caved on January 3. This year, I hope to beat both of those records by making 2013 my lucky year. This tip is really what I keep telling myself daily because some days it really feels like a lot of work to stay on track:

“Be Patient with Yourself - On average, it takes 21 days to create a new habit. When you first get started, it will take more time and energy to focus on your daily goal. The trick is to notice when you didn't accomplish your daily goal - and to not beat yourself up about it. After about three solid weeks of working on your daily goals, they'll become second nature and part of your daily routine.” –Amber Rosenberg, Certified Life Coach

So, I’m being patient with myself, trying to enjoy the process, and trying to focus on the fact that it’s a journey not a phase.

And to help YOU outlast your New Year’s Resolutions, I’m giving away a box of Balance Bar® products just like the one I got! YAY!

You can enter below using the Rafflecopter widget. Good luck!  

Disclaimer: I received products to review/giveaway, but was not otherwise compensated for this post.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Ever been to a restaurant where the free stuff they give you before the meal is sometimes almost as good as the actual meal? Like for instance, the kick ass pretzel bread at Le Cellier at Disney World (Epcot) or the amazing salsa at your favorite Mexican restaurant?

Yes. And yes.

Daniel and I ate at Gringo’s probably about 6-7 years ago, and immediately became obsessed with their green/verde salsa. Was it avocado? Is it ranch? WHY IS IT SO GOOD?!

Fast forward to 2011 when he graduated from college, we had his celebratory dinner at Los Cucos which is a Houston-area restaurant chain, as is Gringo’s now. Again, that oh-so-delicious green salsa was served to us. It’s creamy, it’s got amazing flavor, and it’s easy to eat an entire little salsa bowl of it in under 10 minutes.

We seriously asked for a refill of the green salsa when we went to Gringo’s last month. We have no shame.

Since we can’t always travel to Houston for our Los Cucos/Gringo’s green salsa fix, we set out to recreate it at home. Not one to be stingy, I’m going to share the recipe with you. There are many variations of it online, but mine is slightly different in that I omit cilantro and mine is a bit creamier, less watery than a normal salsa. This recipe makes about 32 oz./4 cups, and is perfect for chips or top enchiladas/tacos. Very versatile salsa.

Ingredients:

• 1, 28 oz. can of green tomatillos, drained (fresh can work, too, just boil until tomatillo flesh is tender, chill in freezer for to cool them off)
• 3 medium avocados
• 1/2 of a serrano pepper
• 8 oz. light sour cream
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. steak or fajita seasoning

Directions: Open your can of tomatillos, drain all the liquid out. Dump all of them into the blender, followed by your avocado and all other ingredients. It should look like this:

Not very pretty or fancy, but that’s ok. Now blend/puree until it’s all broken down. If it’s too thick for your liking, add a TINY amount of water. TINY!

Now, serve and enjoy. This dip is creamy, full of flavor, and so fresh and affordable. Perfect for a Super Bowl party or any get together. It comes together in minutes. I thought it was tasty at room temperature, but it’s really delicious cold, too. The dip will keep for about 4-5 days, so I would make this and use it up quickly.

As you all know, I’m counting calories like a madwoman, so I figured out the calories to be about 290 calories for 1 cup. I serve myself about 1/4 cup when eating, so it’s not too awful, but you gotta watch your serving sizes.

Are there any restaurant salsas you’re addicted to?

I’ll be back on Wednesday with a giveaway that will help the lucky winner keep their New Year’s Resolutions by snacking healthy. :) See ya then!

If I had any weakness in terms of my eating habits, it’d be donuts and my love of flavored, fancy coffees. Both are bad for my waist, but coffeehouse coffee is bad for my wallet. Sometimes it’s more than $4 for a cup of coffee that isn’t always as tasty as I thought it’d be.

I was sent the sample packs below thanks to Nescafe. They’re samples of the new Nescafe Memento single serve packets. They come in 3 tasty flavors, as you can see below, and are really unique for a few reasons.

First of all, they’re about 50-75 cents per packet and only 100 calories for a single serving/8 oz. But, the yumminess doesn’t stop there. Unlike any other single serve coffee packet I’ve ever tried, this one foams up! You have this delicious, milky, frothy foam on top of your latte JUST like you would at a coffeehouse. And no, it’s not just bubbles of air…it tastes good. And under the foam is a delicious latte. Swoon.

Today was SUPER COLD, and I was at home for lunch, so I decided to make the caramel latte and take if with me back to work today. I poured half a bottle of water into my mug, microwaved it for 3 minutes, poured the caramel latte packet in…

Mixed it, and the foam magically appeared. Within seconds.

Also, you can see that on the rim of my mug is a caramel like substance—this stuff is the real thing. The only thing I had to do other than mix it was add a packet of Splenda. I like my coffee very creamy and sweet, but for you hardcore coffee drinkers, it might be fine as is. Luckily, the Splenda packet didn’t add any calories, which kept my afternoon treat at a very low 100 calories. My usual light coffeehouse drink costs me about 2-3 times as many calories.

I think these are a great alternative to the gourmet coffeehouse drinks that most of us love, and they are great for all of us who are counting calories as part of New Year’s Resolutions.

Which flavor would you like to try—caramel, cappuccino or mocha? You can order a free sample over here, and tell me what you think!

I was selected to blog about this product thanks to Being Latino & Nescafe. All opinions, photos, etc. are my own and not influenced by compensation.

I know many of you might be thinking about New Year’s Resolutions. What is it about a new year that makes us all think we can succeed at everything we failed at the previous year?

Well, besides the fact we can succeed at anything, it is a fresh slate of sorts. Everything is so last year and is so not happening  again in 2013.

I feel ya. I do.

And while it’s technically not the new year yet, it is a great time to beat everyone who is also thinking of hopping on the fitness bandwagon. They won’t get on it until January 1, sooooo, you have almost a whole week to snag up the fitness apparel in the sizes you want/need. Now, as a woman who is fluffy, I am appalled at the lack of cute fitness apparel for fluffys. It’s like I have to lose weight to fit into anything from the major fitness brands. I’m looking at you, Reebok.

Well, let’s say you want fitness apparel, aren’t sizes 0-10, and don’t want to spend $70 on yoga pants (yeah, screw you Victoria’s Secret!)…then you’ve come to the right place. These are stores with super affordable, cute, fitness apparel that will fit you NOW.

1.) Walmart.com: Affordable (think $17 and under per item), cute, and with 97-cent per item shipping (or shop in store), they are a viable, SUPER affordable option for workout pants, tops and sports bras.

2.) LaneBryant.com: Not as cheap as Walmart, but with coupons, it can be (if you buy at the right time). A lot of the items are made by Reebox, oddly enough since Reebox.com only goes up to XL, but lots of the tops/pants are on sale constantly. The sports bras are FAB quality, and are usually BOGO 50% off or free. Coupons are key to maximizing your savings, but the prices are reasonable nonetheless.

3.) OldNavy.com: Free shipping on orders over $50, free returns, and loads of coupon offers every week, this another great option for affordable fitness apparel. They have a whole section of plus size fitness wear that is cute, practical and affordable. The sizing is a little funky, so you might want to order one size up/down and return one. Some items run huge, others run small.

As you can see, with these options there is no excuse to workout in ratty t-shirts and icky pants. I think investing in a 2-3 workout outfits will help make you feel good about yourself when working out, and hopefully keep you motivated because you’ll look so darn cute.

And since you’re saving on workout apparel, I’d urge you to splurge on these items:

1.) A heart rate monitor! My absolute favorite is this one. I’ve owned it for about 2 years now, and I love that it tells me if I need to work harder (or take it down a notch), plus it tells me how many calories I’ve burned. That info alone will help your weight loss goals since those online calculators tend to grossly over estimate how many calories you burn. This is money WELL spent, and Polar is an outstanding brand that will last you MANY years. Well worth the $65 or so.

2.) Good athletic shoes. Your knees, joints, and feet will thank you profusely. I’d suggest going to a running/walking store to get properly fitted for the proper shoes (over/under pronators), but if you don’t or can’t, Amazon.com’s shoe department is your friend. They offer free returns on all shoes sold by Amazon, so by a few different sizes/types, keep what fits, and send the others back. You won’t even have to leave the house. I personally love Asics, these shoes to be exact, but order shoes that will work for the type of exercise you will be doing (running/walking/dancing, indoor/outdoor).

3.) If you’re running or walking or even just planning on vacuuming as a form of exercise, a pair of bluetooth headphones will prove invaluable. Gotta love the feeling of no wires to interfere with your arm motions, plus if you get a phone call while you’re exercising, it’s really easy to just pick up the phone by pressing a button on your bluetooth headphones. Adjust volume, switch songs, talk on the phone without having to mess with your phone. Pure. Bliss. I own this pair, and they’re so luxe without the luxe price tag. They’re rechargeable, have good volume and seem pretty heavy duty.

I hope those suggestions help all of us who are a little ahem, chubby, find some cute workout clothes so we can be fit and healthy in 2013. If there’s a store I forgot about, please leave me a comment so others can see, too.

I almost forgot—if you’re shopping online, remember to click through eBates! You earn cash back on all your purchases, so if you spend $100 at Old Navy, and they’re doing 5% cash back that day, you’ll end up with $5 cash back. Every bit helps, and it’s super easy to sign up here. You can save up that cash back money to buy some smaller clothes in spring time, right? :)

What are your favorite exercise/fitness activities to do when you’re trying to get back into a fitness routine?

I’ll admit it.

I pin tons of appetizer recipes. Oodles.

I make none.

Usually it’s because they require more time and ingredients than I want to invest in. I am a huge fan of effortless entertaining. I want it to be affordable, easy and without stress. During the holidays we have a lot of gatherings with our friends and family. We host game nights, TV nights, holiday soirees, etc. and this means we serve lots and lots of appetizers to nosh on.

Here’s one of my new favorites. As you can tell, the bag is ripped open. These are GOOD. I’ll admit some of the frozen appetizers leave a lot to be desired, but these Tyson Bruschetta Any’Tizers are delicious. It’s chicken, spinach, cheese, and an alfredo like sauce all gingerly nested on top of a delicious mini toasted bread.

HEAVEN.

You can find them for about $6.98 at Walmart in the area where all the appetizers are (they also have a chicken and bacon variety, which is next on my “must buy” list):

They come with about 2 dozen in a bag, which is a great value. They bake up in under 10 minutes, so they’re perfect for entertaining. Pop them in when guests arrive, serve up on a platter, and you are good to go.

And you know me, I always have a comment about calories—you can eat 3 for 170 calories (maybe pair with a salad and call it a dinner!) They are pretty meaty and the spinach doesn’t have a soggy or gross texture/taste. These are truly restaurant quality to me.

I had a friend over this weekend, and we were busy playing video games and having fun. We got hungry and I literally took 2 minutes to plop them into the oven, and 10 minutes later we were munching away.

This lil’ guy was obsessed with trying to steal them from us. He eventually succeeded. Gotta love Pee Wee’s perseverance.

And if you need more entertaining ideas or even craft ideas, you can read my post about the Holiday Celebrations 2012 eguide created by Party Bluprints Inc. & Collective Bias. It’s totally free and even features savings to some great retailers like Sears and Otter Box.

 

I may have to try this Holiday Sangria from the holiday e-guide this weekend:

Bottom line—don’t stress this holiday season! Holiday dining or entertaining doesn’t have to cost a lot or be complicated to be delicious thanks to Tyson Bruschetta.

I hope it’s an item they’ll carry year round because I am obsessed. Ya hear that Tyson? :)

What are your favorite appetizer or entertaining secrets for a quick, stress free holiday season?

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®  and Tyson #CBias #SocialFabric #HolidayGuide