The PrayFit Prayer

If you're reading this and you're a Christian you might be interested in this prayer that my dear friend Pam posted this morning. 

It is from a FB page for the PrayFit movement/book. The slogan is this:  Life is not about the body but our health is a means of praise.

Here is a link to their website and what they're about.


http://www.prayfit.com/aboutus/

I haven't bought the book yet but I have been following their twitter and FB page for a long time. I find their words to be both inspiring and encouraging. 

Here is the prayer:

"Lord, please bless my workout. As I train my arms, let it remind me that I’m held tightly in Yours. As I work my legs, let it be only to follow you more closely. When I work my chest, may it be safely under a breastplate of righteousness. And when I hit my back, I’ll recall that I’ll never be attacked by surprise. And finally Lord, allow my beating heart to grow stronger, knowing that’s exactly where You live. Yes Lord, please bless my workout. I’m a temple, here to worship.
In Jesus’ name, I train, Amen."

Here is a link to their FB page:



https://www.facebook.com/officialprayfit/timeline

And their Twitter:


https://twitter.com/prayfit

Let me know if you have read the book yet and if so what you thought! All comments are welcome!




"In order to excel, you must be completely dedicated." - Willie Mays

Italian Stuffed Mushrooms (My recipe--not a review of someone elses)

Italian Stuffed Mushrooms --------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Mushrooms of choices-(fresh not canned) I used white. Could use med portabellas or whatever cream cheese
Italian sausages
green onions
Italian seasoning 
fresh minced garlic (I use it out of the jar) 
garlic powder 
butter 
pepper salt 
shredded cheese or sliced "white" cheese like provolone, mozzarella, muenster, butterkase...



Use each of these ingredients in the proportion that you like to your taste. 




Preheat oven to 350 degrees 

Wash mushrooms. Pull the stems out of the mushroom caps and set aside.Slice sausage skin lengthwise and scoop ground pork out and into a skillet. Cook on medium heat and break up into small pieces as you go.

While sausage is cooking chop mushroom stems and green onions. When sausage is done remove from skillet to drain and add onions, stems, and minced fresh garlic (to taste) Italian Seasoning, salt and pepper. Saute until stems are cooked thru.

start w/half a block of cream cheese and slice into small pieces. Add to skillet. As it melts stir in sausage a little at a time until you have the proportions you want. You may want to add more cream cheese and less sausage or vice versa. Make sure you have crumbled bigger pieces of sausage by hand before adding back in to cream cheese mixture.....


Let the mixture cool and then pack by hand into the caps. place the stuffed caps back into the pan and bake at 350 until they look a little crusty on top. Add shredded or sliced white cheese of your choice and bake until it melts. Serve hot.



[the fresh green stuff in one of the pics is oregano from my herb garden. I just decided to throw that in there.]

Zumba! Zumba! Zumba!

When you say Zumba three times fast it sounds like a war cry. In reality nothing could be farther from the truth for me.

This is the second time I've been back to Zumba in a very long time. It felt a lot like Deja Vu:

http://womantypingbadly.blogspot.com/2011/01/my-first-zumba-class-today.html

Man, I thought that clock hand  would NEVER MOVE!

But it did and I am down 2 lbs today. That is most likely the combination of changing my eating and the exercise but I'll take it! Down 2 of 120lbs. 118 to go! 2/120

In the meantime, I'm going to post a fabulous low carb stuffed mushroom recipe. Check it out and let me know if you try it!

p.s. Just so you know, I do not look like the picture below when I Zumba:

Real Talk, Sometimes You Just Got To Have It!

Last May [2013] I got real serious about getting healthy and lost 30lbs from May to August. I sort of lost my way after that, even though I knew what I needed to do. For reasons I am unable to pin down, I simply would not or could not get back on track.

Today a dear friend of mine asked me what I did that summer that contributed to my success at that time. 

Without hesitation I told her that I went to the gym every single day, I stopped napping, even on Sundays and because my energy levels went up, I was more active. As the weight began to come off I began to eat better because I wanted to take maximum advantage of the physical progress I was making.

Fast forward a year. I have gained back about 10 of it and should have been pretty close to goal by now. 

What am I doing to contribute to my lack of success?

I rarely go to the gym.

I don't eat healthy.

My lifestyle is very inactive.

My internal dialogue has given up on it.

That's Real Talk. It's hard to look at but a relief to get out there. It's also my 46th birthday, today; and if I don't get on track soon I will live out my latter years in the poorest of health and have no one to blame but myself.

So today I am looking at my words and believing that next year at this time I will be writing about how much changed this year and what better health I am in.

^See that? That would be change one: my internal dialogue.

It's a start.

Comments are always welcome. 

Here's to our health,

Robin

Delicata Squash

DELICATA SQUASH YUM!

What are Delicata Squash? They are a mild buttery tasting almost sweet squash that is only in season in Florida around Sept/Oct. and sometimes Nov. They are a great low carb substitute for potatoes, especially as hash browns. In Panama City, Publix carries them and sometimes Walmart but not often @ Walmart.

One way of cooking Delicatas is to cut in half, scoop out pulp/seeds, and place cut side down in a microwave safe dish filled with a little water. Nuke until soft, scoop out and mash with butter, cinnamon, and sugar or Splenda. Another way is Squash Browns, recipe below :)

This is what they look like:





Squash Browns 

Delicata Squashes (however many on all of the listed ingredients you decide lol)
Bacon
onions, diced
Mrs. Dash
Salt and pepper


Fry bacon til crisp, set aside. While the bacon is cooking, peel the squash then cut in half. scoops out seeds/junk. cube.

fry squash in bacon grease til almost done. toss in the onions, season with Das/salt/pepper. Finish cooking til done.

EAT.IT.UP.

Recipe Review: Chipotle Wings

Chipotle Wings

Chipotle Wing Sauce

2-3 cloves garlic
Juice from one lemon
2-3 (or 4 if ya want it super spicy!) chipotle chiles in adobo + 2tablespoons adobo sauce
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley or cilantro
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh oregano
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Put all in food processor or blender and blend until combined then drizzle in 1/2 stick melted butter or 1/4 cup good evoo while blending. Toss with 2lbs grilled wings.

I usually use 3 chipotle's, cilantro and evoo.

The recipe above is just as I got it from the girl who posted it.



These are my own notes:

the adobo sauce was so thick I could not get 2 tbsp out of it. I really liked the flavor of the adobo sauce so I wish I could have gotten more out of it.

The flavor was intense with heat but not flaming hot..... I would toss the wings in the sauce while the wings are still hot. They seemed to coat differently if the wings cooled some before I got them in the sauce. (I had three different kids of sauce going so I got delayed getting the wings into the sauce right away sometimes) 

Still tasted good dipping these wings in ranch or bleu cheese like regular Frank's sauce.

The recipe does not make a whole lot of sauce but the girl who posted this said she can toss 2lbs of wings in what this recipe makes. 

Texas Chili

Texas Chili

This recipe started as a recipe by a woman online named Dottie. I have changed it considerably so I am reposting here the version of it I now use:

1 pound ground beef

1 pound diced steak or stew meat
2 large yellow onions – diced
2 cans (14.5 ounce) cut diced tomatoes
2 cans (8 ounce) tomato sauce
2 cans (14 ounce) beef broth
3 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground oregano
1 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Shredded Cheddar cheese
Sour Cream

Brown ground beef, steak and onions, breaking it up as you go. Drain well.

Add spices and continue to cook until meat is well coated.

Add the remaining ingredients.

Reduce heat, cover and simmer for at least 30 minutes or until reduced slightly. 

Add water or more broth if needed.

Serve hot with shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream.






* I have made this recipe all the way to the meat/onions and seasonings then froze it. I packed it in a cooler, took the canned items with me and finished the chili about the 2nd or 3rd day we were camping. It is a great and consistent recipe.