Snow Ice Cream

1 Cup - Half & Half

2/3 Cup - Sugar

1 Tbsp - Corn Starch

1 - Egg

1 - tsp - Vanilla

1 Square - Baking Semi-Sweet Chocolate (Shaved) - Optional

Whisk Half & Half, Sugar, Corn Starch & Egg together in a pan. Heat while stirring continually until thick. Let it cool completely. Mix 1 Large bowl of clean snow with mixture and add vanilla and what ever toppings sound delicious.

Fresh and Healthy Potato Salad

Potato Salad

Red Potatoes
Cherry Tomatoes
Fresh Thyme
Fresh Parsley
Capers
Calamata Olives
Black Olives
Lemon Zest
Lemon Juice
2 TBSP Vinegar
2 TBSP Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper to flavor

Cut and cook potatoes until soft then cool. Mix the rest of the ingredients and then stir in potatoes until coated. DELICIOUS!

Christmas Tipping!

Christmas Tipping
Please don't forget how much you care this Christmas season!
Merry Christmas!

Also, please note this is extra on top of what you usually tip.

Maid
1 weeks pay

Newspaper Carrier
Daily $25-50
Weekend Only $10

Gardner
$20-50

Teachers
$25-100 Gift Certificates to a bookstore or office supply store.

Coaches, Dance Instructors, Music Teachers
Small gift from your child

Personal Trainer
$60-100 upon reaching goal

Handyman
$15-20

Babysitter
One night’s pay plus small gift from your child

Day Care Service
$25-70 plus small gift from your child

Full-Time Nanny
One week’s to one month’s pay plus small gift from your child

Postal Carrier
Non-Cash gifts with value up to $20.00

Pet Groomer
1/4-1/2 cost of a session

Pet Walker or Sitter
1-2 week’s pay

Hairdresser
$15.00 or more

Manicurist or Pedicurist
$15.00 or more

Massage Therapist
$15.00 or more

FAIR FOOD! This is eye opening!

Wow, if I just eat one Turkey Leg that is like worth a days points for me! Enjoy the fair! I will never be able to enjoy fair food again. It is much more fun not knowing these things.

FAIR FOOD POINTS - Make sure you plan ahead prior to going to the fair!
Candied Apple - 6
Caramel Apple - 9
Caramel Corn (3 cups) - 8
Cheese Sticks (2) - 8
Chili Dog - 10
Cinnamon Roll - 10-13 depending on size
Corn Dog - 6
Corn on the Cob (without butter) - 1
Corn on the Cob (with butter) - 3
Cotton Candy (big bag) - 3
Dippin' Dots (1/2 cup) - 2
Egg Roll (1) - 2
Elephant Ear - 7
French Fries - 12
Fried Ice Cream - 5
Fried Rice - 6 - 8 depending on size
Fried snickers - 11
Fried Sweet Potato Strips ( 4pcs) - 17
Fried Veggies (1 cup) - 10
Fudge (1 pc) - 3
Funnel Cake - 12
Grilled chicken - 6
Gyro - 17
Hot Dog - 7
Ice Cream (1scoop) - 5
Kettle Corn (3 cups) - 3
Kohr's Orange Juice - 5
Nachos - 10
Onion Rings (3) - 6
Peanuts (40) - 4
Sausage Sandwich - 14 (seriously? There's really such a thing?)
Shrimp or Chicken Kabab - 5
Sno-Cone - 5
Soft Pretzel - 7
Taffy (4 pcs) - 3
Tenderloin Sandwich - 12
Turkey Leg - 26

HOW TO ADD UP YOUR WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS
To find your daily points allowance, give yourself the number of points listed next to the option that fits your situation best:

Your sex:
If you are female- score 2 points
If you are male- score 8
If you are nursing- score 12

Your age:
17 to 26- score 4
27 to 37- score 3
38 to 47- score 2
48 to 58- score 1
Over 58- score 0

Your current weight:
Enter the first 2 digits of your weight in pounds. If you are 175 lbs for example, you would enter "17".

Your height:
under 5'1"- score 0
5'1" to 5'10"- score 1
Over 5'10"- score 2

Your activity level on most days of the week, how do you spend your day?:
Sitting down- score 0
Occasionally sitting, but mostly standing- score 2
Walking most of the time- score 4
Doing physically hard work most of the time- score 6

Add up all your scored points- that is your daily points target.

I am up to 14.8 pounds lost!!!!!!

I WON our biggest loser contest at work! Unfortunately, I need to use that to pay for my daughter's dental work. :( That is another subject.

I have been on this new health kick since the end of July and have lost 14.8 pounds so far. I am so excited that I found something that works for me.

I have continued to walk 40 minutes at lunch and now I am keeping up with my calories calculated on this scale. www.calorieneedscalculator.com. You type in your information and it tells you what you burn every day. You are supposed to eat 500-1000 calories less that what you burn. This still ends up being around the 7 calories per pounds that you weigh as mentioned in my last post.

I hope to lose about 10-15 more pounds and then maintain my weight. I feel so much better and sleep better too.

I watched Dr. Oz's new show yesterday and loved it. I kind of already knew these things but it helped motivate me to try harder with the knowledge I've been given.

*Running is great for your heart but if you are trying to lose weight/inches by running you probably will not lose as much as if you just walked fast. The reason is, your heart rate gets too high and your brain tells your body to use the sugar and calories. When you walk your heart rate is high but not as high as if you were running so your brain tells your body to burn fat. I think I would rather walk and burn fat but again either way is good for you.

*To up your metabolism:
1) Eat smaller meals more frequently.
2) Drink coffee or green tea (this makes your heart rate a little higher which produce
chemicals to up your metabolism.
3) We all know this one, exercise!
4) Drink a lot of water. You can trick your stomach by drinking a glass before meals this way
you will not eat as much.

If you have anymore tips to share please respond to this post.
Thanks, Carrie

I am finally losing weight!!!!

I've made a decision....I need to lose some weight! I have been at it for two weeks and have lost 6 lbs. Here is what I have done so far and what I am not going to do. I AM NOT GOING ON A DIET!!! They don't work and I can never stick to them. I love food way too much.

1) Be accountable to someone.

My work has a contest to see who can lose the most percentage of weight in two months. This is a great motivator because I have people holding me accountable and well....I want to win. So, buddy up with a friend and hold each other accountable for what you eat and do for exercise.

2) Change your eating habits and journal what you eat.

I read in "The Biggest Loser Family Cookbook" that if you eat 7 calories per pound that you weigh per day you will lose the weight in a slow and consistent matter. For me I weigh 187 lb (yes, unfortunately this is true) so there for I need to keep my calorie intake at around 1300 calories. I've been keeping my meals around 400 calories and have a 100 calorie snack.

3) Get moving.

I've been taking a 40 minute walk at lunch every day. I do have an advantage because I work downtown. I have carpeted tunnels and can walk all they way to the Cox center without going outside. I would prefer to walk outside but I don't want to get sweaty during the day when I have to return to work. The Cox center is open to the public during the day to walk around in an air conditioned environment.

This has worked so far for me. I don't have time to work out at home because I have a family to care for and I work full time. When I go walking at lunch this is 40 minutes I do not have at any other time of the day.

Menu example:
Here is a sample of what I have been eating daily. As you can tell this is plenty of food to keep you from starving.

Breakfast
Egg Breakfast sandwich
120 - Whole Wheat English Muffin
70 - Egg (cooked on a light layer of olive oil)
30 - 1 Slice of Turkey (Heated on the skillet of course)
3 - 2 cups of coffee
15 - 1 teaspoon of sugar (1/2 tsp in each cup of coffee)
100 - 1Banana
Total 383

Lunch
Sandwich
120 - Whole Wheat English Muffin
30 - 1 Slice of Turkey
40 - 1/8 cup of goat cheese (you could just use a shredded cheese of your choice)
100 - Yogurt (Low Fat)
50 - 10 baby carrots
Total 340

Snack
50 - 1/2 cup blueberries

Dinner
Low Calorie Pizza
160 - Whole Wheat Tortilla (toasted in over to harden [2 min on each side])
70 - 1 Tablespoon (BBQ)
50 - 1 slice of ham (cut up)
40 - 1/3 cup cut Pineapple (canned or fresh)
0 - Cilantro
Total 320

Dessert
110 - 1 cup Canned Peaches
20 - 4 Tablespoons light whipped cream
Total 130

Grand total for the day is 1,223 (I still have 77 calories left!)

Have fun with it. I hope this inspires you! I will keep you posted on my progress.

Great ways to use Bell Peppers

One of my favorite things to do during a cookout is to buy a red, green & yellow bell peppers, cut the top off in V shaped slices and use them as serving bowls for Ketchup, Mustard & Relish. This is a great way to make your inexpensive hot dogs present well. As we all know, food tastes much better when presented in a creative way.

Other uses for bell peppers:

Serve Chile in them and top with shredded cheddar

Chop and saute them with garlic and a small amount of olive oil and use them to top your meat.

If you do not use the whole bell pepper for what ever recipe you are using, chop them up and freeze them for future use. Bell peppers freeze and thaw well.