Afghan Done, New Projects to Start

Finished the Afghan for Dad last Friday. He liked it. It took a little over a month to complete.

Onward to projects 2 and 3: Design/build a website and design/build/fix/add on to my parents' pool deck!

Fambalaya

Yay for crock pots! Even semi broken ones.  The handles on my cover came off, so now I have to trickily pry it open with a spatula or other device and avoid the 3rd-degree-burning steam that comes out. It's okay. I have the skills.

Here's another recipe I edited for my own liking. About a year ago, I tried looking up a crock pot recipe for Jambalaya and came across Colleen's Slow Cooker Jambalaya. I made it and liked it, but it is most definitely not Jambalaya. This is why I now call it my Fambalaya (fake jambalaya) recipe.

I changed all the meat to chicken and added garlic and baby carrots... because that's what I like. When I made it yesterday, I put around 2 teaspoons of Tony's in it. That adds a lot of sodium though, so I think I'll leave that spice for after it is cooked next time.

It makes 11 cups worth of food, so that's how I divided the servings. The picture (which I ate! (pictures are tasty (especially pictures of this recipe))) is 2 cups of the crock pot and then 1 cup of brown rice, which was around 590 calories.

It was GRRRRREAT.

Ingredients	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Fiber
Yellow Onion, 1 large	60	14	0	2	3
Celery 2 cup chopped	28	6	0	1	3
Chicken Broth 99% Fat Free, 2 cup	10	0	0	1	0
Oregano 2 tsp	6	1	0	0	1
Parsley 2 tsp	1	0	0	0	0
Thyme 1 tsp	3	1	0	0	0
Diced Tomatoes (28oz)	175	28	0	7	7
Baby Carrots, 1 Cup	50	12	0	2	4
Green Bell Pepper	26	6	0	1	1
Tony Chachere's - Cajun Seasoning, 1 tsp	0	0	0	0	0
Minced Garlic, 2 cloves	8	2	0	0	2
Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, 3lb	1,320	0	30	276	0
Total:	1679	68	30	290	19
Per Serving (11 - 1 cup each):	186	6	6	24	2

Zumba Class

I did Zumba for the first time tonight at Star Fitness with Janel. It was complicated but fun.I didn't realize how many different dance moves there would be. Each time I started getting the hang of doing one, they would switch to another.

The time went by fast, and I had fun, even if I had trouble moving my feet like the instructor. Depending if Zane and I go to Ship Island on Saturday or not, I'll go to that class too. The Zumba teacher was very nice and told me I did well for my first time. She encouraged me saying how it's not about doing the dances perfectly as much as just moving. She also said what Janel has told me a couple times - you burn about 500 calories during the class. Well, as a man carrying 100 extra pounds on my back, I burn even more! Yay bittersweet!

Of Body Pump, Boot Camp, and Zumba, Zumba is definitely the most fun.

Oh, and there's even proof of me doing Boot Camp (aka Summer Slimdown) Tuesday on Star Fitness' Facebook page!

Biggest Loser started Monday. Round 4 of Summer Slimdown starts tomorrow. I'm going to win both, right?!

Healthyish Meatloaf

I like cooking, and I usually follow recipes pretty closely. Zane wings everything he cooks. If he wants to cook something new, he'll check a recipe for the general idea of how to cook the dish and then change it to how he wants. His methods have gotten me to experiment more myself with only about 50% good results.

Healthyish Meatloaf

• 1 Can Mushrooms (about 1 cup)
• 2 Stalks of Celery
• 1 28oz Can of Diced Tomatoes, well drained
• 1 large bellpepper
• 2 Cups carrots
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 egg, 3 egg whites
• 1 15.5oz can of Black Beans
• 1 tbsp. oregano
• 1 tbsp. basil
• 1 tsp. thyme
• 3lb 99% fat free ground turkey
• 1 large onion, diced into squares
• 2 cups instant oatmeal
• 1 6oz can tomato paste
• 2 tbsp. Dijon mustard
• salt/pepper to taste

I just winged this recipe drawing from some previous veggie heavy meatloafs, so the amounts I wrote in the ingredient list might not be exactly the same as I did it - specifically the spices and the oatmeal.

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Pull out the food processor or get prepared for lots of mincing. Mince and combine (yay food processor) the bell pepper, carrots, garlic, strained diced tomato, black beans, celery, mushroom, eggs, and spices. The eggs will allow the processor to more thoroughly mix the semi dry ingredients. Don't puree, just mince.
3. Empty the minced veggies into a large bowl or the casserole dish you're going to cook in. Mix in the ground meat, diced onions, and instant oatmeal. If you find the meatloaf is too wet, you can add more of the oatmeal, just like you would breadcrumbs.
4. Stick it in the oven for 45 min to an hour, or until the meat thermometer temp is about 165 degrees.
5. Mix the tomato paste and Dijon mustard in a bowl. Depending how much you like tang, use more or less of the Dijon. Fill the tomato paste container with water and mix that in the bowl as well. Spread this over the top of the meatloaf and then put it back in the oven for about 15 minutes.
6. Take out the meatloaf (the thermometer should read about 175 by now) and let it sit for 15-30 minutes.
7. Divide into 8 pieces.

I usually get canned mushrooms now because they go bad so fast, and I like having things in stock. Next time I'll probably add more garlic.

When I made it on Sunday, it didn't firm up completely, but we also ate it about 5 minutes after it came out the oven. It settled like normal meatloaf when I pulled out the leftovers the next day. It still tasted the same, so I'm not too worried about the firmness of the loaf.

Zane said it reminded him of a vegetable soup, but it tasted like meatloaf to me! He wanted me to add sugar and cheese and he ended up added Parmesan to his.

Nutritional Info:

Ingredients	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Fiber
Instant Plain Oatmeal, 2 cup	66	0	8	0	0
Green Bell Pepper, 1 med (149g)	30	7	0	1	3
Canned Mushrooms, 1 container (240 g)	50	8	0	4	2
Celery - 2 stalk	12	2	0	0	1
Onions - Raw, 2 cup, chopped	134	32	0	3	4
Diced Peeled Tomatoes (28oz), 1 can	175	28	0	7	7
Carrots - Raw, 2 cup, chopped	105	25	1	2	7
Garlic - 4 Clove	20	4	0	0	0
Beans - Black Beans, 1 Can	385	67	4	25	25
Eggs - 3 Large Whole Egg	210	3	15	18	0
Tomato Paste, 1 container (6oz)	175	30	0	10	5
Dijon Mustard, 2 tbsp.	30	0	0	0	0
Ground Turkey - 99% Fat Free, 3lb	1,560	0	24	324	0
Total:	2986	206	56	394	54
Per Serving (8):	373	26	7	49	7

A Pound of Rough Yarn

49/77 (7 squares not shown) = 63% done.

When I first looked in the yarn section at Michael's, I couldn't imagine why someone would ever need to buy the 1lb of yarn. I purchased it yesterday. It's deceitful how much yarn goes into making something. I already went through two of the regular sized black yarns (like the white in the picture).

The first time I got yarn, it was at Wal-mart, and the HeartSaver brand is about all they carry. It's cheap and more rough. I was unaware of the soft yarn, which if I could turn back time, I would have gotten instead. It's made of the same material but because of how they manufacture it, it ends up being the thickness of one ply smaller than it actually is. That makes it soft somehow.

I was halfway through before I knew about the soft yarn. I decided to stick with what I've been using for consistency. Who knows - maybe washing it will make it softer? I checked the label, and it should be fine in the washer. I'm going to have a test run on a single square first... Or maybe I'll just throw it in the dryer with a dryer sheet and see what happens.

Afghan Approaching 50%

36/77 squares finished = 47% complete!

And before someone corrects me, I know the picture only shows 35 squares, but there's one more not pictured.

I checked my camera settings and it can do time lapse. I just have to find my tripod. Hmm... There'll be plenty of squares left to test that out on later.

I told my friend that this afghan is like downloading an MP3 in 1997: it'll take two months.

Hopefully I'll get a lot done over the holiday, assuming I'm not working with Sarah, the best, most beautiful, perfect-in-every-way person in the world.

Here's the original post with more information about crotcheting the afghan: Finishing my Grandmother's Blanket.