Riblets

In case you read this blog, here is why it is mostly about healthy eating...

I follow Weight Watchers. Religiously actually. I was hesitant at first because the name is a little weird. I mean I don’t want to “watch” my weight, I would prefer to lose it. However, after getting past the simple dislike of their syntax I jumped right in.

I was encouraged to start Weight Watcher last year when living in Philly. I lived in a house with six girls. Because we were a part of the mission year program, we had to remain single all year. I love fellowshipping with other females, but most often, when girls get together with no men and usually nowhere to go, (which was the case often last year) they eat. Or, at least we ate. There was often brownie batter that was eaten like pudding. I think that is what did it for me. I think I ate a spoonful of that and decided that I was going to change a couple, or more habits in my life.

I started officially in June 2009. I had lost weight prior to starting because my lifestyle naturally shifted when moving to Philly. On a day-to-day basis I would walk 2 miles and often more at least once a week. Not having a car comes with some advantages. From my highest weight that I remember ever seeing on a scale I have lost 80 pounds. Since started Weight Watchers officially I have lost around 50 pounds. It has been a crazy year and sometimes my mind has a hard time keeping up with the changes my body has made.

I just wanted to preface with this information in case anyone who reads my blog hasn’t seen me and a year or so and wonder why I talk about healthy eating so much. The above is why. I am now a little obsessed with healthy eating.

I try to plan my meals at the beginning of the week, so I will be more likely to eat healthy. This takes some thought, planning, and weekly trips to the grocery store. Last night I was wondering the aisles of Tom Thumb looking for unsulfured molasses (I don’t know why it was important that I had unsulfured Molasses, but the recipe called for it. I honestly don’t know the difference but I am pretty sure I don’t want to ingest sulfur if I don’t have to). Most of the time that I grocery shop I kind of faze in and out of consciousness and turn into a robot. I have my list, and I always intend to make a quick run in and out, but I have this weird compulsion about going up and down every aisle. While I go up and down every aisle and slowly get fixated on some new cool product like “Morningstar farms soy based bar-b-que riblets”. I have a weird fascination with soy based imitation meat products right now. Yes, I have tried fake ribs and they aren’t too bad. It does start to worry me though how much they look like meat. I am eating it and questioning how they make it so realistic. Thank goodness, there are not fake bones in the riblets, that would gross me out even more than real bones do. My menu for this week consists of:

Mango-Serrano Bar-B-Que chicken: I was supposed to grill the chicken after it marinated, but I own no grill. Instead, I thought it would be ok to put the chicken in the Crockpot overnight to slow cook. I did that right before I went to bed last night but was extremely paranoid that all the sauce would cook off and that it would burn. Therefore, at 2:45 I woke up in a panic and went and poured a cup of water in the Crockpot. This morning I woke up to find a weird bar-b-que chicken soup. No worries the chicken still tastes good. I just fished it out to be used later for salads and what not.

Lemon/Cilantro Baked Tofu: I am fascinated with tofu and have always been a flex-i-tarian. This meaning I almost never eat meat, not because I am morally opposed, just because I don’t really care for it. The flex part comes in when someone cooks meat on my behalf or when I feel like I should get some of the healthy lean protein into my diet. This Tofu turned out really good. I ate it today with my lunch of mixed vegetables and covered it with Siracha sauce.

Enough of that nonsense. Life is good. I just spent a weekend in Austin with some wonderful ladies. The highlight? Fist pumping while watching wheel of fortune.

I am gearing up for another semester of grad school and it looks like my classes are going to be enjoyable. I have joined a home group through the village church in Dallas, and I have started to get to know some pretty cool ladies there (it is a group for single women). Life is pretty good, no really good. God is good.

I will try and get a recipe together to post soon.