Lentils, Lentils, the Magical Fruit...

And you should know how that song ends. haha. I made soup for dinner tonight. It was a recipe from the Weight Watchers cookbook called Simply the Best. The recipe was for Lentil-Spinach Soup and it was really good. I never realized how much fiber there is in lentils. And let's just say that fiber and me do NOT react well. I think I'm going to need a gas mask for me and one for my little kitty. I have a feeling she won't sleep with me tonight.

So the meal took over two hours to make. I like to "prep" everything first, so that once I start cooking, I have some down time to clean-up. Otherwise I end up with this huge stack of dishes to do after I eat, which I hate. So I cried my way through the chopping of two onions. Not sure how to stop my eyes from burning during the process. I had to keep walking away to splash water on my face. Then I had to examine and "pick through" the lentils. Not sure what I was looking for (my friend said rocks or debris), but I did it. After that, the process was just throwing everything into a pot and stirring occasionally for the next hour.

The end result was very good, and I have leftovers for another three meals since it made four servings. It was actually pretty filling, too. Depending on how I feel after today's meal, I may eat it for dinner tomorrow again since I plan on going to the gym after school and won't have to cook dinner when I come home.

Also, I found that I miscalculated how much I had to lose to get to my goal weight. I said I needed to lose 110 pounds when it was really 111. So I fixed my tracker in the sidebar. *sigh*

I do feel as though I need to clear the air about the cleaning bit. I don't want anyone to think I live in filth because I hate to clean. That's just not true. I dust, run the vacuum, mop the floors, and clean the toilet often. When I say I want to clean my house every other week, I mean spotless clean. Which I only do every once and awhile usually. I'm not counting my dusting, vacuuming, mopping, and toilet cleaning as part of that because I do that frequently.

Glad I cleared the air on that one. Now if only I could clear the air from the lentils...

Back-to-School Blues

I will tell you that it's really easy to make all these plans when I'm sitting on my rear during school breaks. But my back-to-school schedule is kicking that rear. I had one little falter this week on Tuesday when I was so hungry after school that I ordered takeout for dinner. Not good takeout either.

But I had a moment listening to an interview on the Today show. One of the "Half Their Size" guests said that he had to make it through the first couple of weeks until his stomach adjusted to eating fewer calories and then it got easier. So every time I felt like I NEEDED to binge, I told myself not to give up.

Since I only really watched my eating habits for part of the last week, I lost 0.4 pounds. Nothing to really brag about, but at least the scale moved in the right direction. I also made it to the gym two times this week after school. I needed some convincing the first time... I was so tired. My 6th grade students convinced me that I should at least go for 30 minutes and then if I felt like leaving, I could. I didn't want to let them down, so I went. And the next day, that was the first thing they asked me.

Other than Tuesday, I have cooked every dinner at home. Tonight I even made something I never have before. I tried a new recipe called "Penne with Shrimp and Mushrooms" from the Weight Watchers cookbook Simply the Best. I have never cooked raw shrimp before and it was easier than I thought. Of course... not many foods tell you when they are done. haha. Even a novice like me was able to tell that the grey shrimp was done when it turned pink. I think more foods need a "tell" like that.

Anyway, the meal was good, but a little bland. And I have such an inexperienced pallate that I have no idea what to do to make it better. I'm hoping, with time, I will be able to tell those things.

The worst I have done is with cleaning. I am going to have to do three rooms this weekend to catch up with my schedule. I have just been so tired when I get home that I keep putting it off. My dust bunnies thank me. :)

Much snow here... I'm hoping for a snow day even though our superintendent is reluctant to call us off school. We even get 5 "free" snow days a year. We had about 2 inches already. We're supposed to get 2-4 overnight and another 2-4 tomorrow. If there were any day for a snow day, I think that would be it. But we'll see.

Tracking:

• Health: 0.4 pounds down; 109.6 to go
• Cooking: 6 dinners cooked; 202 to go
• Cleaning: 0 times whole house cleaned; 26 to go