Tuna Saute over Spagetti and a New Car!

So this week has been the week from.....well, you know where. Having numerous problems with my job, hit a deer with our Blazer, went to my friends funeral......plus what seems like a never-ending list of other small things that keep happening. SO glad this week is OVER!!! I'm ready for it to be better!

Well, yesterday it got better - we bought a new vehicle! 2003 Envoy XL - it's beautiful, fully loaded, has 4-wheel and all-wheel drive, 4 doors, and seats 7! It has everything we wanted and more (heated seats :)

Heated seats :-D (can you tell I'm excited about the heated seats.....lol)

So to celebrate our new car, I came up with this recipe (actually I came up with it the day before but I couldn't figure out how to transition to the recipe lol).

I wasn't sure how it would turn out.....lol......I had a recipe bomb on me a couple of days ago.....yeah that was another thing that went wrong.......ANYWAYS, this one was totally good! I bought some Anise at the market last week and I have been wanting to try it out. From what I have read about it, it is good either cooked/grilled/sauteed or raw in salads. Cooking it is supposed to mellow out the licorice-like flavor a bit, and since the hubby isn't fond of black licorice, I decided that cooking it would be the best route. I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to do though lol. I got a few ingredients out that I thought would go well together (and honestly what I had left in the fridge/pantry......) and sauteed them together - the tuna was a last minute addition and it was very good, although I think chicken breast would be equally good.

Here are the ingredients - tuna in water, anise, capers, yellow onion, garlic, EEVO (extra virgin olive oil), fresh parmesan cheese

Anise bulb with the tops and end cut off

Garlic bulb

 

 A GIGANTIC yellow onion! This is half of it!

Fresh parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste

A beautiful huge tomato from my mom's garden :)

The tops from the anise bulb - don't throw away! You can use it as a herb!

EEVO - extra virgin olive oil

Tuna Saute over Spaghetti

Ingredients:

* 1 can of tuna in water

* 1/2 cup of diced yellow onion

* 3 garlic cloves - minced

* 2 tbsp capers

* about 1/2 cup of roughly chopped anise

* 1/2 medium tomato diced

* 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

* 2 tbsp EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

* 4-5 basil leaves chopped

* salt and pepper to taste 

* 100% whole wheat spaghetti noodles

Directions:

* saute yellow onion in pan on low until soft - about 10 minutes

* add garlic, capers, and anise and turn up heat to medium for about 3 minutes until heated

* add to cooked noodles 

* add in tuna, parmesan cheese, basil, tomatoes, and salt and pepper

* garnish if you want with the "feathery" tops from the anise

* Enjoy!

As a side note we now have 2 cars for sale - a 99 Saturn for $800 and a 98 Blazer for $1800 - send me a message if interested! We spent all day today cleaning them out and washing them so we can get them out to the road. It was actually fun with the kids helping and it turned out to be a beautiful day!

Will Being (slightly) Mean Help You Lose Weight?

I know this sounds a little harsh - bear with me.

I read this article at a time when I really, really needed to hear something exactly like this. I have become somewhat addicted to Self Magazine, a magazine dedicated to women's health and fitness. This article caught my eye when I was reading it at work, a place where, at the time, it seemed like people were walking all over me and rumors (untrue rumors) were flying and I even, somewhat desperately, tried to transfer out of the only job I have ever actually loved doing.
 
This was a low point for me at work, I was trying to lose weight and had lost around 25 lbs. Some people were (and are still) extremely supportive, giving me compliments and telling me that I've been doing a good job and to keep it up. However, there are those people who act like your friend and look like your friend, but inside them is just a mean little person trying to get out. Oh, they are nice enough usually, but there are those occasions where they let that side of their personality out. For instance, someone said to me one day, "don't worry about what everybody else thinks Ashley, I can tell that you've lost some weight." This is the one that has stuck out in my mind. We are not friends anymore. I decided to be a little mean and just stop being friends. It made me feel better knowing that I had one less person in my life that had the power to make me feel bad about myself.

This article struck a chord because it's about letting people walk all over you during the day - saying yes when you really want to say no, taking on a project when you don't have time, saying yes to going out when you really just want to stay home and take a bath and spend "me" time. Essentially, saying yes to the world, who is usually ungrateful, so to compensate for having your feelings hurt, you nurture yourself by indulging in food - comfort food. For me, it was letting people talk about me and say things to my face and behind my back, and just taking it and letting it hurt my feelings. This led to me eating a cookie (they are sooo available in a bakery!) and the brief sugar high would make me feel better, or I would go and buy a bag of candy, same thing, but they would only make me feel better while eating them, afterwards I would feel worse because I knew I shouldn't be eating that crap! SO I STOPPED. Lol, really, I read the part in the article that says "I won't take any crap and I won't eat any crap" and I was like this is me and it needs to stop. People gave me some surprised looks the next week or so as I spoke out and was really, actually a little mean and sarcastic, but it made me feel so good about myself knowing that I wasn't letting anyone take advantage of me or walk all over me. Self-empowerment! Lol, I happen to love Jillian Micheals (I listen to her podcasts religiously) and she is a big fan of the term "self-empowerment".

Everything is calmed down at work now (well for the most part lol - I work in a bakery full of women - there is no time when there isn't drama happening). I no longer want to transfer out, and I no longer feel as though I have to watch my back. (Of course, it helps that one of those people are gone)  It's an empowering feeling knowing that you are not going to let people walk all over you and that you have the ability to say no if you want to say no.

So, with all that being said, I don't think it has made me lose any of the weight..........lol. Something that has, however, is remaking a few favorite recipes with fresh and healthy versions :)

 It's incredibly easy to make! There is no reason to buy that jar version of what they call spaghetti sauce EVER AGAIN!! Seriously, you will not want to buy that stuff ever again after making this! This time I actually made it from fresh tomatoes, but usually I will buy the canned crushed tomatoes - organic if you can find it - with no salt added (you don't need that extra salt!) Then add some diced fresh tomatoes, onion, garlic, and basil and you are good to go!! Delicious! Unfortunately, this is my weakness, the one food that I almost always go back for seconds on, so, I always try to eat it on a small plate (tonight was on one of the kids plates lol) so when I go back for seconds, I am still eating less than one serving on a regular plate :)

Fresh organic ingredients

fresh basil: roughly chop about 6 leaves

Organic tomato sauce!

Tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and tomato paste with diced onion, garlic, basil and 2 bay leaves - turn on medium high to start a slow boil

Turkey meatballs: ground turkey, egg, diced onion, garlic, basil, and 100% whole wheat bread crumbs

Mix all ingredients for turkey meatballs and make them the size of golfballs

Turn burner down to low and simmer with cover on for 25 minutes

 Take cover off and let sit for about 5 minutes to let thicken up

Serve over 100% whole wheat noodles and enjoy!

My daughter is enjoying her plain spaghetti with bananas on the side........lol

Homemade Spaghetti (and meatballs if you want)

1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes - no salt added - organic if you can find it
1 can of organic tomato paste
1 small onion - diced
3-4 garlic cloves - diced
5-6 fresh basil leaves
2 bay leaves (optional)
2 tomatoes - diced
freshly grated parmigiano reggiano 
2 tbsp olive oil

For Meatballs
1 lb turkey burger
1/2 cup 100% whole wheat bread crumbs
2-3 basil leaves
1 egg
1 garlic clove
handful of diced onions

*saute onions in olive oil for ~4-5 minutes or until soft
*add minced garlic and saute another minute or two
*add to a big pot with crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, basil and bay leaves and turn on med/high
*if you are not adding meatballs in - let sauce simmer for 10 minutes and your done :) when I don't add meat I like to put lentils in for protein - they do not add any flavor and you barely notice eating them!

For Meatballs
*mix all ingredients for meatballs together

*once sauce starts simmering, add golf ball sized meatballs to the sauce
*reduce heat to low and cover
*cook for 30 minutes
*when done take lid off and let sit 5 minute to let the sauce thicken up

Serve over wheat spaghetti noodles and garnish with freshly grated parmigiano reggiano
Enjoy!



Read the full article here - trust me it's worth it!
http://www.self.com/health/2011/07/is-being-too-nice-making-you-fat?currentPage=3