Cook Out Fixings...

Happy Memorial Day!!

Here are the recipes to my Memorial Day fixings.

Homemade Salsa:

·         2-3 Cans Ro-tel Tomatoes (Mild. Med or Hot)

·         2 Large Jalapenos, boiled till olive green and stem removed

·         1 tbsp. Minced Garlic

·         1 Small Handful Fresh Cilantro, finely chopped

·         1 tbsp. Lime Juice

·         1/8 tsp. Ground Cumin

Combine all ingredients into food processor. Blend to desired consistency. Allow to set in frig to chill before serving. *** Eat with Baked Chips.  ***Credits to Lauren Brown for recipe

Homemade Guacamole:

·         2-4 Ripe Avacados

·         2 Tomatoes

·         2 Large Jalapenos, boiled and stem removed

·         2 Cloves of Garlic

·         ½ tbsp. Ground Cumin

·         1/8 tsp. Ground Red Pepper (optional)

·         1 tbsp. Lime Juice

In food processor, blend all ingredients to desired consistency. Allow to set in frig for at least 1 hour. **Serve with Baked Chips   ***To prevent browning, spray top of guac with cooking spray.

French Vanilla Fruit Salad:

·         Fresh Strawberries, Sliced

·         Fresh Cantaloupe, Sliced

·         Fresh Blueberries

·         Fresh Kiwis, Sliced

·         Fresh Green Grapes

·         ½  Packet Sugar Free French Vanilla Pudding mix

Combine all ingredients in large bowl. Toss fruit with Pudding mix. Refrigerate overnight.

Healthy Fat Free “Spinach Dip”

·         1 8oz. Tub of Fat Free Cottage Cheese

·         2 oz. Water Chestnuts, finely chopped

·         1 10oz. Frozen Spinach, thawed and ALL water completely drained

·         1 packet Ranch dressing

·        Combine all ingredients. Allow to set over night in frig. Before serving, Mix with a hand mixer to desired consistency.

****I am serving this with Sliced Carrots, Sliced Cucumbers and Sliced Red, Yellow and Orange Peppers

There ya go!!!  Eat up!!!!!! Fat Free!  Sugar Free!!  GUILT FREE!!!!!

Portion Control!!!!!

I’m always beings asked what the secret is to my weight loss. I’m sure everyone expects the answer to be something like, “Well, I spend hours a day at the gym. I only eat fruits and vegetables. No breads or carbs. Etc…” Instead I surprise them when my answer is simply, “PORTION CONTROL.”

Yes, you read that correctly, portion control. There’s a reason the FDA has those little rectangular boxes on the back of everything we purchase, that tells us exactly how much of that item we SHOULD be eating! The reason is that’s ALL OUR BODY NEEDS OF IT!!

For some reason we as consumers feel the need to CONSUME until we are sick to our stomachs. We eat HUGE portions off of HUGE plates. Making sure we leave room for a HUGE dessert, we may or may not share with someone, more than likely not!!   While in the midst of consuming that HUGE meal, often times, we are thinking, talking or planning the very next HUGE meal we will be gorging ourselves with! And we wonder why we are overweight!!!!  REALLY?!?!?!

So, here’s my challenge to all you who have read thus far, you know those salad plates you have in your cabinet?  Get one out, dust it off, and begin using IT as your dinner plate.   You laugh, but I’m so serious!!   When we eat off those enormous dinner plates, we feel the need to fill it. Then, as a result, we feel the need to empty it, right into our stomachs. And if we don’t, our minds begin to play tricks on us, telling us we can’t be full because we still have food on our plate. In contrast, if we shrink the size of our plate, we will obviously be eating lesser amounts off food, meaning lesser calories. Also, we are less likely to leave food behind, thus WE are tricking our brain that we CAN be full because the plate is empty!!

Here’s the catch…NO SECONDS!!!!!!!!  What’s the point in lessening your portions if you’re just going to go back for seconds and end up with the same amount of food!?!?! 

I can’t hear you already, “But Ashley, I’m gonna be so hungry!!” Yes! Yes you will be for the first few days. But you've got to get your stomach shrunk back down to normal size. As well as, train your brain to the new way of thinking when it comes to eating.  But I promise it will get easier!!!

So remember, salad plate and NO SECONDS!!  Showers of Blessings my friends!!!

This is a pic of MY dinner plate compared to our average "dinner plate".

This is a pic the average dinner plate with MY plate and an average  bowl with MY bowl!