I haven’t been blogging because things have gone from normal crazy to just crazy. I promise to be a better blogger and picture taker but there is just a lot of family stuff that has gotten in the way and then there’s really just life. I feel like I have no time during the week and when it comes to the weekends I’m just tired. I know you don’t want to hear my sob story but I’ll tell you what I’ve been doing in a short list.

• Running.  Did you know that I ran a half marathon back in March?  Did you know that I was extremely nervous about it?  I was just going to do a 5k but the week before the race I changed to the half marathon.  I was so glad that I did because it was the most rewarding experience for me since I started the weight loss journey.
• I’ve been visiting my grandma, my best friends, my family.  I’ve been a little bit of a warrior lately.  Texas, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi…I’ve been to them all and we have more trips coming up for the summer.  Of course, when gas will be at it’s highest.
• I’m training for a 6.2 mile run.  I would like to finish it in 51 minutes so I can skip the lottery process for the Houston half marathon in January 2013.  It use to be something I stressed about it but I guess it’s not that big of deal if I don’t do it.  I just need to finish the thing.
• I have continued to lose weight and I’m currently trying to help my friends in the process too.  But that’s a sticky slope because I don’t want to seem like a hard ass.
• I haven’t been making much of anything lately.  I had a hot boom in January and February but not much after.  I’m definitely a person who wants to make stuff for me and not for other people.  I’ve quickly learned that..
• I’ve been doing a lot of experimentation in the kitchen.  I love cooking and see what I can come up with.  It always makes me happy when I do something really good.  My husband says I can make a meal out of nothing.

I’ve been MIA because I fell in love with Whole Foods. Well that’s only part of the truth, so let me start from the beginning. I went to “visit” my grandmother in Birmingham. By visit I mean, I made my mom go see her mom due to a serious medical condition that may turn out to be not that serious. All in all, I was kind of worried for my grandma and I wanted her to see exactly how much weight I had lost.

My grandmother has called me fat to my face every chance she could get since I was a young child. This was my way of sticking it to her because at this point she couldn’t say anything about me in a negative way. And she didn’t, well that’s if you don’t count that she constantly talked about how I lost my “boooob-ieeeeees” and butt. It was totally worth it the 18 hours I spent in the car round trip just to stick it to her. When she saw me, I thought she was going to have a heart attack. She was speechless and my grandma can always find the words to bring someone down.

But while I was there I re-discovered Whole Foods. We don’t have one where I live and I have to go to Houston (although I’ve never been to Whole Foods there) or Austin (where I have frequently visited the store) to enjoy the special treats they have to offer me. But I had never been to a Whole Foods like this! Which I soon came to learn that the Whole Foods in Austin I was going to just totally sucked and has been totally redesigned now. I walked in there to get some food and walked into an organic, natural and healthy wonderful. Calling me a yuppie yet? I have no problem with that because that is what I felt like in those moments.

I walked on up to the buffet and loaded up on the best kale I’ve ever had, lentils, many types of quinoa and grilled chicken. I was in food heaven. So much that I took my mom back the next morning for breakfast. I couldn’t take part in the eating of the breakfast because they didn’t have anything healthy enough for me to eat. Yep that’s right. The breakfast bar with french toast, biscuits, bacon, grits (and cheese grits), and eggs was nothing I could eat. I did enjoy some roasted veggies: asparagus and red bell peppers. But I enjoyed my mom’s face when she tasted the bacon and quickly proclaimed it was the best bacon she’s ever had. And she talked about those biscuits for two hours. I bought some vegan oatmeal cookies and my mom got some banana bread (that she continued to talk about for 2 days) and we were on our way.

So you think that’s the end of my Whole Foods story? Wrong. I learned they had a store in Baton Rouge and since we had to go through there to get home anyway, it was only right for us to stop again. So yes, we stopped at WF again and I went in and loaded up on lentils and quinoa and grilled chicken again. And my mom got to visit the barbeque bar I had told her about the previous night. We were living it up at Whole Foods. And then I spotted a low fat oatmeal raisin cookie that was to die for. I had to bring some home to my husband…and he loved them.

Now I’m left feeling empty because the nearest Whole Foods is 90 miles away…This is a very sad story and I can’t believe I even wrote this, but I’m only speaking the truth. How sad! But please, don’t make me tell you how much money I spent at Whole Foods!

I don’t know what’s gotten into me this Valentine’s Day but I’ve been crafting and coming up with ideas like no ones business. I kind of feel like a previous version of myself and I like it. I’ve been making little gifts for my friends and my nieces and nephew. First up are the Valentine’s bags:

I put together a little kiddie pack with pom-poms, pencils, crayons, markers, a cup and some fun pencil toppers. I put it all together in this cute little bag and put this cute little bag topper on it. You can download the bag topper here.

I also made these cards out of scrapbook paper and cardstock. I used a solid 12×12 piece of scrapbook paper, folded in half and cut it. Then I used the cut piece and folded it in half and the chopped off the bottom part to make a 4×6 card. I made some printables for this project also: Valentine’s Day banner and inside card stock.

I can’t even tell everyone how much I’ve been into making stuff the past couple of weeks. I kind of feel like my old self again. So here are some Valentine’s Day cards I made which you can print out on cardstock and give to your friends, family and co-workers.

Get the whole set here.

I’m always on a constant search to find new ways to enjoy food…and get my husband to eat vegetables. This is the perfect recipe for both because the one thing I really miss in my life is pizza. Until now, we’ve been making pizzas on bagel thins or English muffins, but I worry about the carbohydrate intake. Needless to say, we don’t have those too often.

The cauliflower pizza crust was something my husband was definitely weary of because he doesn’t do a lot of veggies. But I heard no complaints from him and he actually enjoyed it. Please remember that the cauliflower crust is not like bread and you may not be able to pick it up and eat it like real pizza.

Also, I adapted the recipe below to suit my needs. Here is how I did it:

1. I used frozen cauliflower. I steamed it in my steamer for about 10 minutes and used my Oster 3-in-1 Hand blender to chop it up. *If you don’t have a hand blender, you should definitely get one. It’s something that I use often and saves so much time. You can make soups, chop things…it’s just the best!

2. I didn’t use a cup of cheese; I used a 1/4 cup Fat Free Mozzarella cheese. In my opinion, a full cup of cheese seems like too much just for the crust considering you’re going to put toppings on your pizza too and cheese is bound to be one of those toppings. This is the easiest way to cut fat. But I’m huge on portion size, so that may just be my issue.

3. I substituted two egg whites for the egg. Just makes it a little healthier, cuts the calories and cholesterol and works just the same.

4. And I didn’t use the extra virgin olive oil. Even though it’s a good fat, I try to say away from it. If it bothers you that your crust doesn’t brown then maybe you could try an egg white egg wash or something. I just left the crust in the over a little longer so it would brown.

5. Garlic salt is a no no to me. I just chopped up some fresh garlic with the with the cauliflower.

Recipes are just a road map to making something your own. I have included the original recipe below. You might not want to take my suggestions so I wanted to include the original recipe. And your toppings should be precooked before putting them on the crust.

Recipe courtesy of Eat.Drink.Smile

Ingredients:
1 cup cooked, riced cauliflower
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp crushed garlic
1/2 tsp garlic salt
olive oil (optional)

pizza sauce, shredded cheese and your choice of toppings*

Directions:

To “Rice” the Cauliflower:
Take 1 large head of fresh cauliflower, remove stems and leaves, and chop the florets into chunks. Add to food processor and pulse until it looks like grain. Do not over-do pulse or you will puree it. (If you don’t have a food processor, you can grate the whole head with a cheese grater). Place the riced cauliflower into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 8 minutes. There is no need to add water, as the natural moisture in the cauliflower is enough to cook itself.

One large head should produce approximately 3 cups of riced cauliflower. The remainder can be used to make additional pizza crusts immediately, or can be stored in the refrigerator for up to one week.

To Make the Pizza Crust:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup cauliflower, egg and mozzarella. Add oregano, crushed garlic and garlic salt, stir. Transfer to the cookie sheet, and using your hands, pat out into a 9″ round. Optional: Brush olive oil over top of mixture to help with browning.

Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven. To the crust, add sauce, toppings and cheese. Place under a broiler at high heat just until cheese is melted (approximately 3-4 minutes).

I don’t know what it is about Valentine’s Day but it always brings out the wrong type of emotion in my life. Maybe because I spent so many years not having anyone to celebrate this Hallmark holiday with. Now I’m married and I would actually like to celebrate the holiday.

This morning the husband and I had a little tizzy about the upcoming holiday because we were talking about gifts. He told me no gifts because there’s Christmas and birthdays. Well why no gifts? I understand our anniversary is right after Christmas. This year for our anniversary we didn’t do gifts because we did Christmas up so well. But Christmas gifts and Valentine’s Day gifts are two different animals. Christmas gifts are things you want to buy people, Valentine’s Day gifts are just the gifts that show that you care. Kind of ridiculous I know. Why should you have to give a gift to let someone know that you care? Simply put, you don’t. You should show that person you care all year round. Valentine’s Day gifts don’t have to expensive…or don’t have to cost anything at all. It could be a hand written note or a lovely poem or something home made. That’s what Valentine’s Day is about, putting in the effort to show someone that you care.

I guess my issue here was I’ve been really thinking about what I was going to do for my husband for Valentine’s Day and it just seems like he wasn’t thinking about it at all. He’s kind of just brushed it off like another day and has moved on because there is Christmas and birthdays for gifts. And then I got: “Well most people give chocolates or flowers. We can’t have chocolate and you don’t like flowers.” True statement, but you can’t search your imagination for something else? I guess it’s about the trying part with me.

Plus, Valentine’s Day is day of love. A day of celebration for your spouse, parents, kids, siblings, friends…and whoever else is important in your life. We should all take the time to share with them why they are important in our lives and that we love them.

I’m a natural gift giver. I like to give gifts. I like to make things for people. I just like to show I care. And I guess sometimes I would just like it back. I’m not saying that my husband doesn’t appreciate me because I know that he does. Romance is not dead fellows. A woman still wants to be romanced and doted on in life and Valentine’s Day is the day to that for your lady. I’ve probably opened up a whole set of worms with this post, but here are my words…and that is how I feel.

He says no gifts, but I’m going to do something just because that’s the type of person that I am. And I guess maybe it’s unfair that I would expect something from him too because he’s not me. He is his own person. But the whole conversation just left me feeling slightly empty.

How sad is that? The constant hunching over and cutting really got to me. And you know what the first thing I said to my husband was? “I thought that was a fat people problem.” But he assured me, it’s just a getting older problem. I stopped podcasting about Vampire Diaries a couple of weeks ago to allow me to have free time to do other things (like blogging and perusing my creative endeavors). I’ve been pretty on the move lately, but I try to make at least one thing every Sunday. First I started with Kindle cases:

And then I thought I would tackle my biggest project to date: a t-shirt blanket.

You see, I’m trying to take back my closet. I’ve been donating boatloads of clothes to Goodwill because I simply can’t fit them anymore. But I quickly learned that I have a lot of t-shirts and most of them I didn’t want to throw away. They hold memories, Ole Miss memories. I can’t think about throwing out an Ole Miss t-shirt. In fact, it was kind of hard for me to cut a couple of these suckers to make a blanket. But I did for the love of keeping the shirts, just not in my closet…and it was the best thing I could have done. Now I can keep the blanket with all of those memories.

There are a few things I learned from this project that I would like to share with everyone because I like to make lists.

1. Hunching over for long or even short periods of time will do a number on your back. I really should have done my work at the kitchen table that was level with my seat instead of hunching over the guest bed doing this. Now I have a huge annoyance (pain) in my life. *I call it an annoyance because I have a very high threshold for pain and people aren’t use to hearing me complain about pain…so it must be really hurting now. But the thing is, it’s not really hurting me, it’s just annoying me. I can’t stand it.

2. You want to make a t-shirt blanket? Well then you’re going to need a lot of interfacing. And even if you think you have enough, it’s best to get a little extra. I went through A LOT of interfacing. Thank goodness the stuff is only fifty cents a yard. But I felt so legit when I went to the fabric store to get more interfacing because I ran out and the lady cutting the fabric commented on how much I was using. I told her what I was making and she said, “Enough said. I’ve been there. Are you sure you’re getting enough?” I felt like at the moment I was being induced into the craft lady club and I was pleased.

3. I made my blanket out of 25 shirts and I still have more. Do you think I have too many shirts from Ole Miss days that I couldn’t part with? I might have an Ole Miss problem if I’m holding on to the t-shirts for the memories. Especially since I really didn’t want to cut my Ole Miss Band shirt and the Harvard of the South shirt. It was a very emotional experience for me.

4. The sewing is not what takes so long with this project. It’s the prep. Cutting the t-shirts, fusing the interfacing on…and then you can finally get the the sewing. I spent more time cutting and fusing than actual sewing.

But it’s finished now and I love it! Well worth the time, effort and the annoyance.

Granted I envisioned it looking different. I had also tripped the front pockets off all the shirt ans I was going to use those in a border. But when I finally got to the sewing part, I decided two things: 1. I wanted to get this project done because I had been working on it all day. Plus my back was really hurting. and 2. The blanket turned out way bigger than I expected which is fine.

The border would have made the blanket even bigger and there would have been more fabric to cut. I just decided to end it at this, which is fine for a nice casual blanket. I’m really pleased with the outcome and I think it looks great. Not so bad for someone who taught herself to sew and only made pillows and really dinky looking blankets. It’s my biggest sewing success so far!

Sign the petition!

Have you ever tried just plain Greek yogurt? I think it’s the nastiest stuff I’ve ever had. When I first started on my lifestyle change all I ever heard how Greek yogurt is so good for you and it’s so delicious. Greek yogurt may be delicious when it comes packaged with a high sugar fruit concoction on the side or even with honey, but alone…it’s just plain nasty. I remember a day back in January when I literally had to force feed myself this yogurt with my own mashed up fruit in it, all I can say was it wasn’t a pretty sight! I soon come to realize that Greek yogurt wasn’t worth my time and I didn’t care how much extra protein in each container. So I just stopped eating it.

Until I realized that all those people did have the right ideas about Greek yogurt with adding stuff to it make it better. Now I use it for everything that I can’t have the full fatty version of in life. Yes my friends, every time that I see a recipe calls for sour cream or mayonnaise…I reach for the Greek yogurt. My latest Greek yogurt phase has become sauces. Just call me Angela the saucier. But one important thing, Greek yogurt will curdle at the sign of any heat and become something you don’t want to look at. I warned you!

So here is just a quick rundown of the sauces I have made with a Greek yogurt base:

• Creamy mustard sauce (used in my Light Version of Chicken Salad)
• Ranch “dressing”: I saw a ranch packet at the grocery store yesterday and decided I would give it a try.  I two (2) tablespoons of the ranch packet, one 6 oz container of Greek yogurt, and half a cup of skim milk and mixed it all together. It tastes the same a ranch dressing (because of the packet seasoning) but it’s just not as thick as ranch dressing.  I’m sure you could double the Greek yogurt though and it would be thicker.  I didn’t because I only had one container of yogurt.
• A lemon dill sauce:  Again, one 6 oz container of Greek yogurt, 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard, lemon zest, 1/8 cup lemon juice, dill.  Mix it all together and let it sit for about 30 minutes in the fridge before serving.  I put it on salmon and the next day on a chicken breast.  It was delicious.
• Creamy Blueberry sauce: 6 oz container of yogurt, puree a cup of blueberries.  Mix it together.  I like to use this as a side to my low fat/low sugar apple crisp. I guess that’s a recipe I should share with my blog readers too.

* I use Yoplait plain Greek yogurt.