Pretty wild flowers I always see on my walks.

I am happy to say that it is true that if you do something for 30 days it becomes a habit. I now can’t wait to walk every morning. Even after I over worked my knee and it became a bit sore and swollen I was fretting because I really wanted get out there and walk. Happily I learned I needed inserts for my walking shoes and maybe not double up on my work out so much if I want to keep walking everyday. It is kind of hard to restrain me these days because I just want to get out and walk all the time. Overall my eating habits have been pretty good. When I hurt my knee I may have gone to extremes a bit because first I was “Oh no I can’t walk so I better limit my eating as much as I can” and then by dinner I was starved and I ate a bit more than I should have but honestly I ate so little during the rest of the day I still probably didn’t go over my calorie limit. It isn’t a good trend for me so I really need to watch my eating for a day or two. I must say I am still enjoying my Noom App on my phone. It helps me track my eating and how many calories I burn during my walks. The one thing I am failing at is drinking my green tea. I saw massive weight loss the first couple weeks and I was drinking my tea but I slacked and I am not losing like I should. I am going to put in a pitcher overnight so it is already to go in the morning.

I have successfully implemented a daily schedule for myself. As long as it isn’t hail and lightning then I am out every morning walking. Even on the weekend I look forward to getting up and walking some place I don’t get to walk on the week days. Last Saturday my husband and I did a 7.5 mile walk down almost the full length of the North/South Riverwalk here in San Antonio. We walked from the Pearl Brewery to the Blue Star Brewery and stopped for lunch and then back to the Pearl. I think this might become a regular occurrence because it is an absolutely beautiful walk. I haven’t lost much more weight but my clothes are loosening up quite nicely and I notice my tummy has firmed up. So I am happy even if my scale isn’t. I have been watching what I eat very carefully so I have a feeling the scale will start cooperating again after I get past this time of the month (if you know what I mean). I am surprised my skin as clear as it is right now so things are

This Saturday is going to a splurge day but I will do my best to keep the calories in check and I am going to force myself to get up extra early that day because we have a local brewery tour starting at 8:30.am. Yes we will be getting on a bus to go tour 6 different brewery at 8:30 in the morning. We are already calling it the drunk bus and I anticipate it is going to be a ball. The 5 Pint Brew Crawl will be visiting these breweries in order:

1. Dodging Duck Brewhaus – I have never been here or tried any of their beers

2. Free Tail Brewery – Tried a few of their beer and hoping they can change my opinion

3. Faust Brewing Company – Suppose to have a period pub.. lets see how it cares to my beloved Fiddler’s Hearth in South Bend, IN.

4. Ranger Creek Brewing and Distilling – I have tried a few of their beers but never visited their facilities

5. Blue Star Brewing Company – Had lunch here last Saturday but didn’t feel much up to drinking after that walk.

We have got to know a lot of folks from the local brew community so I am really looking forward to a day of fun.

My goal that morning will be to get up and do my walking before the crawl and to eat as carefully as I can but I am sure I will hit my calorie budget with just beer. Wish my waistline luck!

Well I survived last week without falling off the wagon. I walked every day I possibly could and did a awesome job of watching what I ate. It helped that I had very little appetite. I was afraid when I got back and finally had this big ball of stress off my shoulders that things would go badly but I have done very well. As of Friday May 3rd I have lost 8 pounds. That is the best reinforcement I can get! My husband and I have started a new habit to go to The Pearl Farmers Market every Saturday. We go for a number of reasons. The first is that it makes us get up early, we enjoy the fresh vegetables we find and the riverwalk between there and downtown is beautiful and wonderful for Saturday morning walk. One thing we can’t miss is the Gluten Free Crepes which we get full of fresh veggies and some Boursin cheese which serves as our breakfast and then we walk 3-4 miles on the river. It really feels more like sightseeing than exercising.

This blog was suppose to be about food and food is definitely an important part in of a healthy lifestyle. I am choosing to avoid gluten in my diet because I have an obvious intolerance to it so you are going to see a lot of gluten free recipes in the future. Check out my Gluten Free Veggie Crepes, this recipe is a reproduction of those wonderful crepes we get at The Pearl Farmers Market.

On the food side I must report my latest creation. We had eaten at La Gloria Ice House at the Pearl Brewery here in San Antonio last Saturday. The dish that impressed me the most was Camerones Agua Chile or shrimp in fire water. I love the gulf shrimp we get here they are so much more flavorful than what we got back in Indiana. I think this preparation of shrimp is now my favorite way to eat them and I think it may be the healthiest way to fix them. I have been working on a ceviche recipe ever since last summer but I think I have now worked out all the kinks and have the best ceviche recipe yet. I promise to get that posted as soon as I get back next week and have time to do it.

Molly not happy about me taking her picture in her pink diaper! Pouty Puppy!

The title of this post made me giggle because I find I have to tell myself that quite often these days. I am really bad about internalizing things that are bothering me and there has been so much going on lately that I think I am going to burst soon. Today I realized it is even affecting my health because I am starting to get depressed and I just want to go take a nap in the middle of the day. When I really need to be getting out and moving my ever growing backside. I thought once I we got moved I would find endless time and energy to get the exercise I needed and it would be easy to lose some weight. I thought wrong. I hate doing things by myself and my husband’s work schedule doesn’t allow us much time together during the week and it certainly is not workout friendly. My oldest has been busier than all of us put together between band, choir, ROTC and now driving school so we seem to only see each other during meals. The younger two aren’t that into Mom time so most of the time its just me and the dogs.

Today I once again trying to put a foot in the right direction and not only start posting here again but also drag myself out for a nice long walk. I actually have a number of posts already in drafted out but unfinished so you might see a burst of posts that I have been sitting on for a while. One I need to write before I let it get away is telling you all about our day at the Real Ale Anniversary Party in Blanco, Tx. That brewery is really growing and developing and I can’t help but compare it to 3Floyds Brewery back in Indiana. Any craft beer lovers should find that post pretty interesting because thanks to my husband I know my beers (as well as my teas) and know a good amount about the craft beer industry.

I am hoping for a little encouragement from all of you to get this ball rolling because I am looking forward to eventually being swept away by it once the momentum gets going. Don’t worry recipes are also coming and gardening tips because I am very much still a foodie but there is so much more than just recipes in life that I want to share!

Yeah I failed to post multiple times last week. I can’t even tell you why now it is all just a blur. I am sitting her shivering trying to keep myself from crawling back in my warm covers, Let me re-cap last week for you.

1. I learned to not make more than your going to eat in one sitting of the Avocado Egg Salad because it becomes Frankensalad and it will not be edible in 24 hours.

2. Texas Roadhouse deep fried pickles are not good. They were super salty and bitter. We have a local restaurant. CBQ Eatery and they have incredible deep fried pickles and bricket and sweet potato tamales.. oh my.

3. I made my second batch of Spicy Korean Fried Chicken and my family agreed that it was the best fried chicken ever. I will post my version of the recipe this week. I promise!

4. A cold air mass pushed down out of North Texas and pushed all the Cedar pollen south and now my chest feels like I am living on the edge of a asthma attack and my usual allergy meds are not helping. Go away cold air!

Avocado Egg Salad from Skinny Taste.com

I have made the decision that no matter how busy I am going to try to post something here at least 6 days a week. I am also working on my weight which is mostly because I am a foodie and my husband and I do a lot of food travel and the fact I can whip up something that you would poke your best friends eyes out just to get seconds of. It is funny how many friends I have made by cooking for them. I guess I just have a gift. My grandmother says my grandfathers mother was well known for her cooking so maybe I inherited it. I have decided I can still make myself delicious food but I have to be more calorie and portion mindful while avoiding processed carbohydrates. It has worked well for me in the past. I have been enamored with Avocados recently so I decided to try the Avocado Egg Salad from SkinnyTaste.com. I also remembered seeing NomNomPaleo.com post a method for perfect hard boiled eggs which I desperately need because my eggs always end up looking like they had some horrible skin condition. I just finished my hard boiled eggs using her method and they are perfect!

I halved the recipe because I am only feeding me and my thoughts on the Avocado Egg Salad was that it had good flavor the not enough texture for me. Next time I think I am gong to add some sweet onion, chopped pecans and maybe some sliced grapes. I also served my open faced on whole wheat bread with lettuce and sliced homegrown tomatoes which I think really complimented the salad. Now I just have to convince Molly my French Bulldog that I need a few minutes alone to eat without playing fetch with her drool covered toy..

Just look at that face!