Fit Tuesday #2

Welcome to another Fit Tuesday!!  I have to say that just when I start getting rolling, the hubs comes home with 2 large bags of plain M&Ms....love that man, but, dang it, what are ya doin to me???  So, I admit that I opened them and had about 10 and then closed those suckers back up again!  The other bag is unopened. So, once in a while, I may get an M&M since it's almost impossible to survive without chocolate....you can google it, hehe!

This week I thought I would share a recipe that I am lovin for lunch these days!

Homemade Healthy Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

1 rotisserie chicken, cut up and chopped/shredded {no skin}
1/3-2/3 cups light mayonnaise {to taste}
1 stalk celery, chopped
20 seedless grapes
1/8 cup pecans, chopped
1/4 onion {optional}
a couple hits of Texas Pete {optional, but oh so good!!}
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together.....really, that's all there is to it!  I bought these great squishy rolls from the bakery section and they were sooo good!!  The hubs isn't a big fan of "salads" but my girlies LOVED these sandwiches!!  Dayna is my foodie daughter, and she ate 1 1/2 sandwiches :o)  It's very filling and packed with protein.

Serves 8

Chicken Salad {without bread} points value: 6 per serving using 1/3 cup light mayo

This week's stats:

Pounds lost this week:  3

Total pounds lost: 5

Pounds to go: 95

What about you??  How have you been doing this week? I love reading about everyone's plans for getting fit, and small successes are STILL success!!

Slap Your Mama Homemade Mac and Cheese

I live in the South, where macaroni and cheese is literally referred to as a vegetable.  I will never forget the first time I went a local restaurant and saw it listed on the veggies to choose from list...really??  Not only that, but my husband used to eat it daily for breakfast...that and fried chicken.  Yep, for breakfast.  Mercy.  I come from California where mac and cheese is a health hazard....at least the way I make it!!  I've been asked many times to share my mac and cheese recipe.  It is made with all natural, full fat ingredients but that is exactly what makes it amazing!!


Ingredients:

16 oz. dry elbow macaroni
4 cups 2% milk (could use skim or whole)
4 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (pre-shredded is fine, but doesn't melt as nicely as block cheese you shred yourself)
1 stick butter, NOT margarine :o)
1/2 cup flour
2 tsp table salt--I add this once the water boils for the noodles (to taste)
2 tsp Lawry's Seasoning Salt (to taste)

 1.  Cook macaroni according to package directions.  While cooking, shred your cheese and measure out all your ingredients...set them all by the stove top ready to be added.  Once noodles are cooked, place in strainer and place hot pot back on the burner.  When I first made this, I tried to cook the noodles and the sauce at the same time, but it's just easier to this way!


2.  Over medium heat, place whole stick of butter in your pot.

Julia Child would be so proud, a whole stick of butter!  Let it melt and get frothy.  

Add your 1/2 cup flour all at once and whisk together immediately.  This is why you need your ingredients measured and by the stove top!  

 The butter and flour will make a wonderful paste (roux).

 Let it bubble while you whisk for about a minute....then add the Seasoning Salt.  The Seasoning Salt was a happy accident, but gives it such a wonderful taste!  Don't you love how I measure! Whisk together until all mixed together.

3.  While continuing to whisk, add milk, about 1 cup at a time.  You do NOT want to add all at once, for 2 reasons: the milk might curdle and it will take forever for the sauce to heat through.  Keep whisking until your sauce begins to thicken.  It takes about 5 minutes, but just keep whisking :o)

4.  Once your sauce has thickened, add your cheese all at once.

Glorious sharp cheddar cheese!!

Continue to whisk until the cheese melts in the sauce.  This can happen anytime between 1-5 minutes.  Just keep it up until you raise your whisk and there are no more cheese shreds left!

5.  Add macaroni to the sauce mixture and mix.  Pour into a 9 x 13 pan and cover with shredded cheese.  Bake at 375 until golden brown, or until you just can't stand waiting any more and have to have some!  There are times I will reduce the milk a bit and not bake at all, but serve straight from the pot!  If you plan to make this ahead of time and refrigerate, increase your milk by about 1/4 cup to prevent it from being dry when you re-heat.

There you have it!  Sorry for the long post, but I hope you enjoy!

Iced Coffee Recipe

Over vacation, my sister-in-law and I worked on an iced coffee recipe.  We used this recipe as a starting point, but had to tweak it because it was just too strong and syrupy.  After I got home, I made another batch and it just keeps getting better!

Perfect Iced Coffee

1 12-16 oz package of coffee-pick your favorite flavor--for this batch, I used Folger's Caramel Drizzle
1 gallon water
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can evaporated skim milk
2% milk (can also use skim or whole)
Hershey's chocolate syrup

1.  To make your coffee concentrate, divide your coffee grounds between 2-2quart pitchers.  Pour a half gallon into each pitcher--looks nasty, doesn't it??  Stir with a whisk then cover with plastic wrap.  Allow to steep at least 12 hours.  Pour coffee mixture through cheesecloth to strain.  I ended up putting my coffee mixture right back into the water's gallon container.  This can last a month in the fridge.  Making the concentrate is good for me because I am the only person in my house who drinks coffee and making a pot is usually a waste.  Plus, it's a time saver.

2.  Combine cans of milk together and refrigerate.  This can also keep in the fridge for a month, but it won't last that long :o)

3.  To make a glass of iced coffee, fill glass about 1/3 with ice and pour coffee mixture over ice, just enough to cover the ice.  Fill glass another 1/3 with the sweetened milk mixture, then the rest of the way with regular milk.  Drizzle with about a tablespoon (more or less) chocolate syrup.  Stir and enjoy!

Of course you can always adjust how strong you want your iced coffee to be...add more or less of the concentrate.  I like mine medium strength.

This has come to be my all-time favorite iced coffee recipe, much healthier than McD's Mocha Frappe (McD's crack, as my sis-in-law calls it!) and tastes amazing.  It's a WHOLE lot cheaper, too.  Compared to $4 for a frappe, this recipe costs less than $0.50 per serving.