MARCH 2024 W.I.S.H. Thread-🌸Spring 🐣into Health ☘️

[newski_mom]

Welcome to Monday! It's a new week - what's your motivation to make this week great?!?

 

[Oneanne]

Happy Monday everyone. Summer, I hope you are feeling better.

This week I have to go in to Seattle Thurs for a dentist appt, then I have to jet home to get in here in time for my first hand-building pottery class in the evening. And of course I've been totally obsessed with knitting my sweater, so more of that will happen this week. The neckline cast-on technique is new to me and it took 13 or 14 practice tries to master it, but I am very proud of the edge:



There will also be more garden prep during the week with a bit more compost to put down in the raised beds, and then I'll switch to cleaning up the gardens around the back door and patio.

 

[Summer2018]

I have to go to school today. The three hour observation canceled on Friday was rescheduled for today. I also have a meeting so I’m going in. I’m going to take it as slowly as I can.

As of 12:25 PM, I survived the observation, and by some miracle it went well. I am running on fumes now. I have an important meeting at 1:00 PM, and I will do non demanding activities this afternoon. I really could have used another sick day, but sometimes for a teacher, it’s easier to suffer through it than take another sick day.

 

[newski_mom]

Happy Monday everyone. Summer, I hope you are feeling better.

This week I have to go in to Seattle Thurs for a dentist appt, then I have to jet home to get in here in time for my first hand-building pottery class in the evening. And of course I've been totally obsessed with knitting my sweater, so more of that will happen this week. The neckline cast-on technique is new to me and it took 13 or 14 practice tries to master it, but I am very proud of the edge:

View attachment 844945

There will also be more garden prep during the week with a bit more compost to put down in the raised beds, and then I'll switch to cleaning up the gardens around the back door and patio.

Wow, that looks great!

I have to go to school today. The three hour observation canceled on Friday was rescheduled for today. I also have a meeting so I’m going in. I’m going to take it as slowly as I can.

As of 12:25 PM, I survived the observation, and by some miracle it went well. I am running on fumes now. I have an important meeting at 1:00 PM, and I will do non demanding activities this afternoon. I really could have used another sick day, but sometimes for a teacher, it’s easier to suffer through it than take another sick day.

I don't get sick too often, but it always seems like it's when it's the worst times to miss work! Glad you made it through your observation - that would definitely stress me out!



My motivation for the week is just having another good week. Last week went well without a huge amount of effort, so I want to continue on that path.

 

[PAsFab5]

Hello everyone thankful to be starting a new week!!

Saturday when we woke up to go to the SPCA it was pouring…and it was all downhill from there.

We were not home long and my sister texted to say she was in the ER with stomach pains. Long story short she needed her appendix out. Her surgery went well and I kept my niece for the weekend. To complicate matters her husband is on a 6 week out of town work detail, so it’s a whole mess because she can’t lift anything. They have this week sorted for babysitting and she comes back to me Friday for the weekend.

We went to church yesterday and DH stayed after to set up the Easter walk through-it’s gorgeous! I had a dinner to go to and when I got home he was blazing hot with a fever. He now has a cold virus of some sort and he just got over the stomach flu

@Summer2018 i hope you feel better-HUGS

 

[newski_mom]

Hello everyone thankful to be starting a new week!!

Saturday when we woke up to go to the SPCA it was pouring…and it was all downhill from there.

We were not home long and my sister texted to say she was in the ER with stomach pains. Long story short she needed her appendix out. Her surgery went well and I kept my niece for the weekend. To complicate matters her husband is on a 6 week out of town work detail, so it’s a whole mess because she can’t lift anything. They have this week sorted for babysitting and she comes back to me Friday for the weekend.

We went to church yesterday and DH stayed after to set up the Easter walk through-it’s gorgeous! I had a dinner to go to and when I got home he was blazing hot with a fever. He now has a cold virus of some sort and he just got over the stomach flu

@Summer2018 i hope you feel better-HUGS

I'm so sorry about your weekend! Your sister is lucky to have you

 

[newski_mom]

Topic Tuesday – kitchen appliances / utensils / tools – Does anyone use a specific kitchen appliance / utensil / tool that you find particularly helpful in your healthy living journey?

Or one you have been thinking about getting?

For me, I love my air fryer - I do think it makes it easier to have "fried food" taste without frying things. I don't use it as often as I could probably, but I am glad that I have one.

I like using the grill for grilling meats and vegetables as well.

We have a separate freezer which makes it easier to stock up on things, but I also keep reading about preparing things ahead of time and freezing. I haven't done much of that other than browning ground beef and freezing, but I'd like to start doing more of that I think.

Finally, I use my little apple wedger pretty much every day. I love apples, but don't love biting into them lol!

 

[ShannyMcB]

An additional freezer has been a part of my life forever! More for money saving than health but it helped my sanity on many an occasion. Cooking and freezing meals was a big part of "nesting" for me before the kids were born and now I cook and freeze soups for lunches which kind of helps with my portion control (not this week though been very munchy). I will second the airfryer as well.
Also and to a lesser extent good old crockpot. Helpful for those soups and I use it for pulled meat for sandwiches...beef, chicken, pork...better for us than take out and very veristle. The beef and pork usually makes enough to eat for three or four meals then freeze some for another night....at least until the kids get more into protein.

 

[piglet1979]

I love my Air Fryer. We started with a smaller one. Mom got it for us for Christmas in 2020. We were skeptical but loved it. Then we got a bigger one that is an air fryer, toaster over, and it bakes and about 20 other things. It was awesome until it broke. It was under warranty so they sent us a new one but we had already bought one (we would have had it for the super bowl) and like the new one. It is a bit smaller. We use it almost every day. Once this one goes bad (they all had reviews that the heating source goes bad after a year or so) we have the replacement that we will switch to.

I also use the crockpot a decent amount and I love my new Dutch oven and pasta maker.

 

[piglet1979]

I have gotten on the treadmill 2 days in a row now for an hour. DH is keeping me accountable to doing it. I am getting on at lunch because that used to work before.

On the quiz I got 7/12. I did guess on a lot but I always had it down to 2 and picked the wrong one.

 

[Oneanne]

I have a long history of thinking "this is the appliance/tool that is going to change my life", but insider tip... you have to actually use them in order for them to make a difference.

I've had an air fryer for around three years and have used it twice: I had a small crockpot and used it once and realized I needed a bigger size, which I got but I don't think I've used: I do go thru phases where I'll use my Ninja Bullet for smoothies: now I have the Tagine pot, which I do think I'll use again.

Does a toaster count? How about sharp knives? I do love a good piece of toasted bread, so the toaster gets used. And I got sharp good quality knives for Christmas and boy what I difference... and yes, I have cut myself with them.

 

[newski_mom]

An additional freezer has been a part of my life forever! More for money saving than health but it helped my sanity on many an occasion. Cooking and freezing meals was a big part of "nesting" for me before the kids were born and now I cook and freeze soups for lunches which kind of helps with my portion control (not this week though been very munchy). I will second the airfryer as well.
Also and to a lesser extent good old crockpot. Helpful for those soups and I use it for pulled meat for sandwiches...beef, chicken, pork...better for us than take out and very veristle. The beef and pork usually makes enough to eat for three or four meals then freeze some for another night....at least until the kids get more into protein.

I do love my crockpot too, but now that I don't go home for lunch, I don't use it as much. I'm gone each day for around 9 hours and then we don't eat until probably 1.5-2 hours after we get home, so it's just too long to be in the crockpot. DH is out and about with his job, so I've thought I should have him stop by the house to get it going, but haven't pulled the trigger on that.

I love my Air Fryer. We started with a smaller one. Mom got it for us for Christmas in 2020. We were skeptical but loved it. Then we got a bigger one that is an air fryer, toaster over, and it bakes and about 20 other things. It was awesome until it broke. It was under warranty so they sent us a new one but we had already bought one (we would have had it for the super bowl) and like the new one. It is a bit smaller. We use it almost every day. Once this one goes bad (they all had reviews that the heating source goes bad after a year or so) we have the replacement that we will switch to.

I also use the crockpot a decent amount and I love my new Dutch oven and pasta maker.

The airfryer that I have now is an airfryer / grill combo, which I love using both of them. The downside to it is that if I want to do hamburgers and something in the airfryer, it's pretty much impossible or takes a super long time because I have to do one after the other. It did allow me to get rid of my first airfryer and the geroge foreman type grill that we had though.

I have gotten on the treadmill 2 days in a row now for an hour. DH is keeping me accountable to doing it. I am getting on at lunch because that used to work before.

On the quiz I got 7/12. I did guess on a lot but I always had it down to 2 and picked the wrong one.

It's so good to have an accountability buddy!

I have a long history of thinking "this is the appliance/tool that is going to change my life", but insider tip... you have to actually use them in order for them to make a difference.

I've had an air fryer for around three years and have used it twice: I had a small crockpot and used it once and realized I needed a bigger size, which I got but I don't think I've used: I do go thru phases where I'll use my Ninja Bullet for smoothies: now I have the Tagine pot, which I do think I'll use again.

Does a toaster count? How about sharp knives? I do love a good piece of toasted bread, so the toaster gets used. And I got sharp good quality knives for Christmas and boy what I difference... and yes, I have cut myself with them.

I do the same thing - I love kitchen things, but honestly don't cook that much lol! I actually have a kitchen aid mixer that I've never used. It does look good sitting there though haha!

Absolutely a toaster counts! We use ours a lot too. I've never splurged and gotten good knives before. I look at them and then decide I really don't know enough about them to really pick what is quality over what's just expensive.

 

[Summer2018]

Hello everyone thankful to be starting a new week!!

Saturday when we woke up to go to the SPCA it was pouring…and it was all downhill from there.

We were not home long and my sister texted to say she was in the ER with stomach pains. Long story short she needed her appendix out. Her surgery went well and I kept my niece for the weekend. To complicate matters her husband is on a 6 week out of town work detail, so it’s a whole mess because she can’t lift anything. They have this week sorted for babysitting and she comes back to me Friday for the weekend.

We went to church yesterday and DH stayed after to set up the Easter walk through-it’s gorgeous! I had a dinner to go to and when I got home he was blazing hot with a fever. He now has a cold virus of some sort and he just got over the stomach flu

@Summer2018 i hope you feel better-HUGS

Well that's a lot! Hoping everyone recovers quickly.

 

[Summer2018]

I love my Nutribullet for smoothies. I just wish the cups were dishwasher safe. Technically they are safe for the top rack, but they are too tall to fit in the top rack.

I bought an air fryer thinking I would use it a lot. Food tastes great, but the arduous clean up just isn't worth it, so we rarely use it. The last time we used it was during the kitchen renovation when I had no stove or oven yet. It's just a lot easier to bake food in the new oven (which I really love)...put the dirty pan in the dishwasher, and clean up is done.

I absolutely love my Kitchenaid mixer in Aqua Sky. I had a hand held one for years, but I fantasized over a stand up mixer for soooooooo long. Bloomingdale's had a sale, and DD used her discount for me to get it for a very reasonable price. It's beautiful in my new kitchen, and it makes baking and other food prep so effortless. The bowl fits in the dishwasher. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Have I mentioned that I LOVE my dishwasher?

 

[Summer2018]

...by the way, I had to wait until tonight in order to post. Every time I tried to go on using my iPhone, spam websites popped up. Anyone else have that issue?

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

I finally tried it tonight. I used 6 eggs, about 3/4 cup of cheese (too much) and probably 2tsp of bacon bits. Put parchment paper in muffin pan and made 4 that were really large (2 others I didn't use parchment paper for turned out about 1/3 inch thick. We tried 1 of the smaller ones, and it was good. Thanks for the tip.

sent in a DM, but thought I'd post here too, just in case

I'm a pretty lazy cook, so I simplify as much as I can. Here's what I do:

10 eggs
about 3/8 cup of velveeta cheese cheddar shreds (trying to get 100 calories of cheese total)
about 1.2 T of bacon bits (trying to get 50 calories bacon bits total)

I break and mix all of the eggs in a bowl. Add the cheese and bacon bits. You can spray 10 spots in a muffin tin, but I use parchment paper cupcake liners and split between 10 muffins. It works out to a little over a 1/4 cup of egg mixture per muffin.

I then bake in a 350 degree preheated oven for 20 minutes.

I store them in a container and reheat 2 each morning for 1 minute at 70% power.

This makes each egg bite about 85 calories and super easy!

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

We have an air fryer, used it 2 times and it hasn't come out of the cabinet since. It took like an hour to do some chicken nuggets or something, whatever we tried. So we figured it was just easier to cook that stuff in the oven. So we stopped using it.

I have a grill and a George Foreman, but DW doesn't like me cooking out or using it. She said the grill is too much trouble and takes up too much time. She said the Foreman was too much trouble trying to clean. So we do a lot of tacos, spaghetti, frozen stuff (like nuggets, pizza, etc).

But she's always buying stuff on TAMU or whatever it's called. Seems she's getting some type of gimmicky tool or utensil all the time. And she never uses them, lol. They just sit on the bar unused.

 

[newski_mom]

I finally tried it tonight. I used 6 eggs, about 3/4 cup of cheese (too much) and probably 2tsp of bacon bits. Put parchment paper in muffin pan and made 4 that were really large (2 others I didn't use parchment paper for turned out about 1/3 inch thick. We tried 1 of the smaller ones, and it was good. Thanks for the tip.

Glad you liked them!

 

[newski_mom]

What are you Woo-Hoo-ing today?

 

[piglet1979]

I am woo-hoo that I have gotten on the treadmill for an hour for the last 3 days. Eating hasn't been good since I got my Tagalongs. Only 2 boxes (I used to get a lot more). They are gone now so eating should get better.