30 minutes to dinner! (HEALTHY! TOO)

TUNA NICOISE STOVETOP CASSEROLE

serves 8, Total time 30min

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups couscous

8 small red potatoes, halved or quartered

2 -6oz cans tuna water packed, undrained

1/2 lb frozen green beans, thawed

1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives, sliced

juice and zest of 1 lemon

1Tbsp. Dijon Mustard

1 Tbsp. finely diced white onion

1 clove garlic, minced

1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar

2 tsp. EVOO

2 tsp. minced fresh parsley

sea salt and ground pepper to taste

Olive oil cooking spray

Directions:

1. Cook couscous according to package.

2. Over MD-High heat, bring a medium size pan filled with water to boil. Cook potatoes for 10 minutes; drain. In Large cowl, mix together tuna, green beans, olives and potatoes. Once couscous is cooked, mix it into tuna-vegetable mixture.

3. In medium bowl, whisk together lemon juice, zest, Dijon, onion, garlic, vinegar, parsley, salt and pepper.  Pour over tuna mixture.

4. Heat large nonstick skillet over HIGH heat for 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium-high, mist with cooking spray and saute' tuna-couscous mixture for about 5 minutes or intil well warmed. Remove from heat and serve immediately. 

Nutrition per 1 cup serving: calories: 430, total fat: 6g, sat fat: 1g, carbs: 70g, fiber: 11g, sugars, 4g, protein: 25g, sodium: 350mg, cholesterol: 15mg

PS: I HIGHLY recommend the cookbook I got this recipe out of! THE BEST OF CLEAN EATING It has great divisions, Quick & Easy to Budget friendly, to Holiday meals or weekly meal plans!

Dear Lab Rats on 2 Legs!

the magazines in the grocery line make me SO mad!! WHEN will people realize that there are no miracle diets! ok, so maybe they make you loose weight fast, but is it worth killing your organs? Geez, if someone celeb DR. said that Drinking and smoking was the way to lose 1lb a day, noone would be jumping on it--why do you believe the other lies????(which btw, it will make you lose weight if you smoke-i used to do that)  One day you're gonna collapse, and it's not gonna be because you walked too far on a treadmill! UGH! I want to choke people!
I used to have some respect for DR. Oz, not any more if he is supporting the hCG drop diet! I *thought* he was a respectable person who promoted healthful living, but since he is supporting this, I now have NO respect for him. This diet will kill your heart and brain. A person cannot live on 500 calories a day and put some magic drop on food, or inject it into their body and not expect a bad consequence down the road. I realize people want to see results fast, but the fact is, noone put on an extra 20+ lbs overnight or in 2 weeks and it will not come off healthily in that amount of time either. I am so sorry for the people who have tried this and have bought into the LIES of money hungry "look good now" mentality. Work is work. When you build a life of bad habits its gonna take a while to establish new ones in their place.
I realize that there are people out there that  are overweight to the degree of needing to lose something before "being able" to exercise regularly..these people can get a "jump start" with some supplement(though I still don't personally agree with the method. It is not a lifestyle though, so as soon as that "magic" goes away dieters are right back to the bad habits they were in the first place...hence, the new fad diet that comes out every time the previous one has "failed". If these diets work so well, why are the celebrities paying bukoo dollars for trainers and personal chefs? Why wouldn't they, who have to look "perfect" all the time, be the first  ones on this ship? Because they will kill you...well i guess that is one way to not worry about weight loss, die.
WAKE UP!! I am not a person who thinks that you can never have junk food or that you have to exercise all day everyday, but God did not make our bodies for some up and coming science project. And that is what society has turned itself into, a bunch of lab rats! So one day when you are on your death bed, I hope your children understand that their mother or father "just wanted to look good fast" and I hope they see that as a good reason for your early death.
**step down** (sigh)

http://www.dietsinreview.com/diets/hcg-diet/
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hcg-diet/AN02091

and by far, my favorite article:

http://blogs.webmd.com/pamela-peeke-md/2010/12/diet-scam-101-the-hcg-con.html

6 week Slim Down

First, I would like to preamble this topic by saying that truthfully I am not unhappy with my weight at all. I am unhappy with how untoned i have become in the last few months mostly. That all being said, one of my greatest friends is getting married on October 17th. I am in the wedding. I was measured for my dress nearly 2 months or more ago and my measurements gave me a size 6. I was pleased with that. The dress however, is a mermaid style dress which is nice for my curvier figure. I received the dress on Thursday of last week. I tried it on. It fits....I mean it FITS. I can zip it. I can stand there and look pretty in it, but please whatever you do do not ask me to sit down! So now i have 6 weeks to cut an Inch and a half from my hips and buns! I know I can do this...and be healthy doing it. I want this 1 1/2 inches to stay off, not just be on vacation for the wedding. So I got my fill on junk food over the weekend. Had 2 birthday parties to attend and did not deny myself the cake and ice cream. Monday morning started the "no junk", sugar detox. This is my least favorite part of healthful living! My body likes sugar! The problem is I usually have to go through a period where I stuff myself with something sugary just to get my body to say "HEY, LADY WE HAD ENOUGH ALREADY!  NOW KNOCK IT OFF!" (hence my cake and ice cream filling over the weekend!)
I have cut my coffee sugar in half to start. I have not eaten junk snacks (minus the one bite of a cookie i had prior to sitting here to type this! oops!) I have not eaten ice cream since Saturday. --THAT in itself is a huge feat for me, for it is my TOP sugar indulgence!
I also walked 2 miles pushing a double stroller with 2 kids and (what seemed like) a ton of library books on Monday. Tuesday will lend itself to a whole other post; you will see why when i write it. Today is Wednesday. At 6:15am, I put in a Billy Blanks video and punched and kicked and crunched my way through a 30 minute routine. I have eaten a bowl of whole wheat chex and 1 cup of coffee. And the bite of peanut butter cookie. I am making lunch soon. So far, so good.

I WILL FIT PERFECTLY IN THIS DRESS!! (too bad i can't find my camera cord or i would post a picture of the molded satin! aaahhh, well...)