Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Warm Yam Salad with Chipotle Drizzle

Myself and Matt were craving yam fries the other night. I was also craving that delicious chipotle dip that comes along with them at many greasy spoons. I know that dip is totally unhealthy so I came up with my own version. This is what we pulled together and it tasted like heaven!


Baked Yams:
1 Yam per person (we used 3 smaller yams)
Drizzle of olive oil
Sea salt & pepper to taste

1) Heat oven to 420 degrees F.
2) While oven is heating, wash yam and cut into thin strips. Place in large container with lid and drizzle olive oil on top with the salt and pepper. Shake around to coat.
3) Grease large baking sheet and pour yams on. Try to be sure they are not stacked ontop of eachother as they won't crisp that way.
4) Bake for 20 minutes, flipping once. Broil for a few minutes if they aren't crisp to your liking.

Sauce & salad:
1/2 cup greek yogurt (I used fat free)
1/4 tsp liquid smoke
1/4 chili powder
Juice of 1 lime
Dash of garlic powder
Dash of mustard powder
Dash of dried oregano leaves
A few drops of hot sauce of your choice
1 Roma tomato, diced
3 Green onions, chopped

1) Mix up first 8 ingredients and add a little water if needed to thin into runny consistency.
2) Top warm yams with tomato and green onion.
3) Drizzle sauce over and enjoy!

Cleanse #2 and Changes!

Matt and I just finished our second Juice Reboot Cleanse on the weekend. It seemed harder this time around but we did it! We changed it up and had vegan dinners instead of the juice because we were having a really hard time with the green juice. In fact, when I even think of kale juice I almost gag!

I only lost 4 lbs this time around, but of course Matt lost 8! He always loses faster than me, but that's okay. I am still happy because I'm now down 38 lbs in only 3 months! I have to say I'm really proud of myself and feeling great. I am down 2 jean sizes and 4 bra band sizes (of course I shrink there first! lol). I splurged and treated myself to 2 new pairs of jeans, some bras and a new swimsuit because my old one might have floated away if I went swimming in it! Better fitting clothes feel great! Matt had clothes stored away in a smaller size so he has a whole new wardrobe too. I didn't have that since I haven't been this small since around the time Matt and I met back 12 years ago. Here's a little comparison of last August and this August.


I took a photo of all of our fruit and veggies for the juice cleanse too. This time we only spent $75 on juice supplies and we went through it all. We were pretty happy that it cost less this time around! We got many items on sale at our local discount produce store so we were lucky.


I have had quite a few friends and family members finally notice I'm losing weight and asking how I'm doing it. Many are very interested in clean eating and juice cleanses and I think it's totally awesome! I'm so sick of seeing fad/shake/medication diets and my friends following them and falling off the wagon and gaining what they lost plus more back. If everyone would just eat real food we would all be a lot healthier!

Monday, August 12, 2013

Too Much!

Our clean eating is still going well. Got off track a little during camping, but got back on when we got home last week. Still have a couple of pounds to lose again since camping though.

Since we got home, we started seriously looking at buying a new house. We are hoping to buy an acreage. Looking is fun, but trying to get ready to sell is not. We have to pack up alot of our stuff and find a storage place to keep it for the time being. We're also no sure if we should even sell this late in the year because most people want to move in June or July, not September or October! We found a couple of acreages that interest us, but want to look at them again.

Looking for a house/selling has been stressful enough, then I got a call from my dad Thursday that changed everything. He went for a scan of his bladder because he was having some problems and they found cancer. On Thursday I was thinking "oh, no big deal, they'll do surgery and it will be gone." But yesterday it sank in...my dad has CANCER. He had it before I was born, but he has been cancer free for years, I never really thought about it returning. Since yesterday I have been like a zombie, my head feels all foggy and I know I've been grouchy with Matt and the kids. He is scheduled for surgery next month so I am really hoping that they can get rid of the cancer, but my mom said there's a lot of it. I'm feeling absolutely numb and want to run away, but I know that won't help anything. At least I have a very supportive hubby who has been through cancer with his mom so he totally understands.

I'm going to run and hang out with Ceili in the yard for a bit and try not to think about anything!