What a way to start 2012!

Happy New Year!

Well, today I chose to welcome in the new year with an 8 mile run! Never would I have ever thought I'd do something like that. I basically followed the same route that I did my 10 miler on last week but just cut it short at the 4 mile turnaround. I also did this as part of a virtual race that I hosted as a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. This race raised $510 towards my $2,000 goal. If I am able to raise that goal, I'm so definitely going to be shaving my head at the May 11th Relay for Life here in town.

Just as an aside, I logged approximately 192 miles since September, not including the first two months when I wasn't recording my runs. Whoohoo!!

Additionally I started the second half of my month's worth of cooking. It was a very late start...not until 4pm but it did manage to get Orange Honey Tofu, Crock Pot Mongolian Beef and Skinny Chicken Zucchini Ziti done. I had planned to make Swedish Meatballs, wontons, Skinny Rosemary Soup and Skinny Broccoli Cheddar Soup but my legs were just so tired from the run that I just didn't have the energy to keep cooking plus I forgot to defrost shrimp for the wontons. So all those items are waiting to be done tomorrow...my two day cooking adventure is going to be a three day adventure instead! lol!

I've also joined John Bingham's 100 Days Challenge where members pledge to do 30 minutes of planned activity for 100 days straight. I had started a very similar challenge with some friends on Facebook that started back on October 24th and is to finish on February 1st. I'm not doing so well in that challenge so I'm hoping for a better result with this new challenge. This new challenges ends on April 10th...wow, that seems like a long way away! I'm looking at doing a Boot Camp on Monday, Wednesday & Fridays at 8am, plus restarting Zumba as soon as PT says I can and then I'll be starting yoga and aqua aerobics classes Monday through Thursdays at the community college on January 17th. Hopefully I'll be able to meet the challenge! :)

100 Days Challenge:

• Day 1:  8.1 Mile Long Run

What I Ate Today:

• 1 Whole Wheat Bagel Thin with 2 Tbsp Skippy's Super Chunky Peanut Butter
• Homemade French bread pizza on a white Bolillo roll with pepperoni (10 slices each half), Monterey Jack/Colby cheese (2 c total), pizza sauce (½ c)
• Orange juice from concentrate 3 - 12 oz glasses
• Lowfat chocolate milk - 12 oz
• Clif Shot Energy Gel - Chocolate
• G2 - 10 oz

Last cooking session of 2011

Today has been a rather expensive day. The old man and I went shopping to get ingredients for a massive cooking session this weekend. Today has been/is a day of crock pots, oven and stove top cooking. So far after starting at about 1pm I have prepared:

• Beef Chili
• Vegetarian Chili
• Beef Stew
• BBQ Chicken
• Caribbean Jerk Chicken
• Jambalaya Combo

Before the end of the night I'm going to also finish:

• South Beach Diet Savory Chicken Saute
• Shrimp Etouffee
• Pork & Shrimp Wonton (wrap and flash freeze about 100)

Tomorrow (New Year's Day) I have planned:

• Crock Pot Orange Honey Tofu
• Crock Pot Mongolian Beef
• Taco Meat
• Skinny Cheese & Broccoli Soup
• Skinny Rosemary Potato Soup
• Skinny Zucchini Ziti with Chicken
• Swedish Meatballs
• Pork & Shrimp Wonton (wrap and flash freeze about 100)

In these two days I'll have prepared enough food to last us through the month with a fairly decent selection to rotate through. Everything will be divided into individual servings and will be ready for reheating. The only things that will need to be cooked during the month would be side dishes as well as vegetables (we still have half a freezer full of veggies that need to be used). Both these items will take only a few minutes as compared to having to cook everything from scratch. I don't mind cooking when it's cooking like this that'll keep me from having to cook during the month. Yay!! So here's to a great start to the New Year!

Total cost for 1 month's worth of meals: ~$380
Meals expected to last into early February...

Have a Safe and Happy New Year!!

UPDATE 12/31/11 @ 9:36pm: Wontons not happening tonight. Moving them down to tomorrow. Just too tired...

So far I've put up...

13 servings of beef chili, 6 servings of shrimp etouffee, 6 servings of beef stew, at least 9 servings of veg chili, 7 servings of Caribbean Jerk Chicken, 3 servings of BBQ Chicken (had the rest for dinner), around 6 servings of Jambalaya. Still need to make SBD Savory Chicken Saute - 4 servings.

UPDATE 1/2/12 @ 12:11am: Well, I didn't start cooking until 4pm yesterday. Only managed to get the Chicken Zucchini Ziti - 6 servings, Crock Pot Mongolian Beef - 4 servings and Orange Honey Tofu - 4 servings done. Wonton, Swedish meatballs, Skinny Rosemary Potato Soup and Skinny Broccoli Cheddar Soup, SBD Savory Chicken Saute and taco meat need to be done today after I defrost more chicken and the shrimp.

(Slow) Cooking frenzy...

I'm not quite sure what's been going on for the past three weeks or so in regards to my using the crock pots to cook our meals. Usually I truly hate to cook, whether using the crock pots or cooking on the stove/oven. But things have been different lately. Since there's only the two of us we usually get several days worth of food from each recipe that I make. I don't think I've ever used the crock pots as much as I have in these past weeks! Sure, I'd use them every once in a while, typically for chili or stew and the occasional pot roast; but this time around I'm making soups, other new recipes, the usual comfort food and even candy!! In my efforts this time around I discovered that the slow cookers I had were smaller than I thought. I now have the following sizes:  2½ quarts, a 3½ quarts, 5 quarts, 6 quarts and 7 quarts. I even had two 3 quart slow cookers that I am giving/have given to each of the kids. There have been days when I've had 4 crocks going at the same time...which would have included today but I made the mistake of sending the old man to get some ingredients for me and of course he either couldn't find them or got the wrong thing. Oh well. That means I'll be cooking on Monday since we'll be out of town most of the day tomorrow.

So, what have I made in the slow cookers?

Chili (my own cheater recipe, made 3 times)
Old Fisherman's Grotto Clam Chowder (3 times)
Balsamic Chicken
French Onion Soup
Skinny Broccoli Cheese Soup
Granny's Slow Cooker Vegetarian Chili (3 times)
Zucchini & Chicken Ziti
Crock Pot BBQ Chicken
Crock Pot Sugared Cinnamon Pecans
Skinny Chocolate Fudge
Skinny Glazed Sweet Potatoes

All those recipes have been supplemented with some oven/stove based recipes such as Pork & Shrimp Won Ton Soup, Flounder with Shrimp Sauce, French Bread Pizza, Easy Nachos and Swedish Meatballs; side dishes such as Hasselback Potatoes, Ultra Crispy Roast Potatoes, Oven Roasted Veggies and Swedish Boiled Dill Potatoes.

On the books for Monday I have planned Skinny French Toast Casserole, Skinny Rosemary Potato Soup & Skinny Chocolate Turtles. Geez, looking at this list I just now realized that I haven't really cooked this much since I stopped doing my Once a Month Cooking (OAMC) years ago when I'd spend a whole weekend cooking enough food to last a month. With just the two of us I always manage to have enough to put some food up in the freezer so we always have a supply of food available so I'd say we have at least a week's worth of food in the freezer at present. Well, I guess we won't be starving anytime soon!! lol!