The Weekend Eating ☺ and Awesome Recipes!!

Ok, so I'm back from my little blog vacay. I've really enjoyed just reading blogs and commenting for the past couple of days. I had a great weekend. Joey and Niki stayed one night over this weekend and of course we had some awesome food. I didn't cheat on my diet although it really felt like it b/c the recipes I tried this weekend were just THAT good! I took this weekend as an opportunity to try out some recipes from a couple of awesome blogs I read and I tell ya these ladies could give any chef a run for their money. The two entrees I tried out were from Tami over on Nutmeg Notebook. If you've never been over to her blog, you should check it out. She takes beautiful pictures of nature and has some wonderful yet easy recipes. I always have a hard time finding simple, but flavorful recipes to try, so I end up cooking the same meals over and over again. If you've ever been in the same rut, I highly reccomend visiting her blog. Ok, so the night before Joey and Niki came over I made Pineapple Teriyaki Salmon. I will definitely be making this again. It was tasty, had good ingredients, and it had just enough steps in the recipe so I felt gourmet-ish by the time I was done. lol! I made salad, skillet potatoes w/veggies, salad, and whole wheat rolls to go with it. On Sunday, I made Pot Roast w/ Caramelized Onion Gravy . This is one of the best pot roasts I've ever made honestly. It's a crockpot recipe, and there's not a ton of prep time on this one either. The gravy consists of an ingredient that you'd never guess! So, go check it out. Alongside the roast we had homemade coleslaw, whole wheat rolls, greenbeans w/ minced onion, and baked sweet potato fries.
  I ate brownies this weekend....but, don't worry, I didn't cheat! I used a recipe from Cara's Cravings . Again, this is another sweet lady that really takes a lot of time to experiment and come up w/ healthier ways to make our favorite foods and man do I ever mean she figures out a healthy way! lol. Would you believe that two of the ingredients in these brownies are black beans and avacado?? Well, trust me...just trust me, try these. Cara says in this particular post that it passes the husband test and I admit....I was skeptacle. However, I let my husband try it today and they passed! I was so happy b/c he can be really picky. When I made them, over half of them were gone almost instantly. Niki loved them too and so did my kids...actually they finished them off today. I didn't pig out on them though b/c a little bit really satisfies.
  I just want to say thank you to the bloggers out there that are posting healthy, tasty recipes just out of the goodness of their hearts for all of us. ☺
  Ok, so I'm not going to attempt to remember everything I ate over 3 days...it would be too hard, but I can honestly say I did not have any slip ups and it shows on my ticker...I've lost 26lbs now. Yay! So, here's what I ate today. I wasn't very hungry today and skipped a meal which is not good, but I'll do better tomorrow.

Breakfast: 1c. Kashi cereal, 6-7 raw walnuts, 1c. almond milk, 1/2 banana

Lunch/Dinner: Nachos (whole grain tortilla chips, 1/3c. cheddar cheese, 1/4c. fat free vegetarian refried beans, 2tbsp. guacamole, 3tbsp. salsa, 1 tangelo)

Lots of lemon ginseng green tea and water

I do realize I did not get nearly enough fruits or veggies today...tomorrow is grocery shopping day so I'll get salad back into my house and that will help a lot. Have a great Tuesday!!