What's For Dinner Wednesday--Heart Smart Baked Chicken

Do you have cans and cans of oatmeal in your food storage that you're not entirely sure how to get rid it except for to make no-bake chocolate cookies.  Well, this isn't going to get ride of it that fast, but at least it's a start.  Another winner from the Amish Mennonite cookbook.

6-8 pieces fryer chicken, skinned (uh...frozen chicken breasts from Costco?)

1 cup uncooked oatmeal (I thought long and hard about quick or regular oats.  And then I saw a recipe that called for pork "still warm from the butcher", remembered this was the Amish Mennonites we're talking about and brought out the regular oats.)

1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup margarine, melted.

Mix together oatmeal, parmesan cheese, and seasonings.  In a separate dish, mix garlic and milk.  Place chicken in oatmeal mixture, then into the milk mixture, and then back into the oatmeal mixture.  Put in a shallow baking dish (sprayed with no-stick spray--missed that one) and drizzle the melted margarine over chicken.  Bake at 375 for 1 hour. 

Quick, easy, and fairly(?) healthy.  You could probably lessen the margarine if you wanted it to be healthier.

Financial Tips Installment #1--Financial Goals for 2010

Since our basement--the main cause of our budget failures--is done, it's time to tighten down the budget and get on track for a totally debt-free home in 5 years.  Here are my financial goals for 2010.

Set up a budget
Pretty elementary, but to be honest, we've been basically winging it for a while.  It's time to sit down and set up a budget that is (a) easy and (b) realistic. 

Lower grocery bill
Our #1 expense overall is groceries.  Every time I step into a store, I can expect to pay $50.  If I have both kids with me, add close to $10.  If Wade comes as well, it's even more.  My goal is to lower the grocery bill by 25% this year.  Right now, I'm concentrating on building up our food storage--a blog post for another day--so, it's a little high, but I'm anticipating by March, we're going to be cutting a lot of our grocery bill.  The amount we spent last year on groceries is staggering.  Dropping it 25% should be easy now that I'm more mindful of what we're spending.

Buy 0 new clothing items
Next to groceries, my biggest weakness is clothes.  I LOVE new clothes.  I've been in denial for a long time, but I own 25 pairs of pants.  To be fair, none of them were bought at "full-price", and some don't fit.  But 25 pairs for a stay at home mom that leaves the house maybe three times a week?  Outrageous, much?  So, in 2010, I'm vowing to not buy a single new item of clothing.  If I "need" something, then I'll head to the DI.  So far, so good.  But it's been hard.  I saw some really cute things on sale the other day, but I put them back.  Yay for me!

Have both cars paid for at the end of 2010
This one is going to be tough, but I think we can do it.  Both cars are 2005 models and I'm anticipating a lot of good years left.  We've only had the Pilot for a year, so having it paid off in two is really good.  There's really no excuse as to why we don't have the Camry paid off.  They're good cars that I feel comfortable traveling in through that lonely stretch of I-80 that connects us to the rest of the world.  When we first moved out here, we had one car that was running on a wing and a prayer.  We replaced that one and ran our Subaru (oh, how I loved my Subaru) into the ground (215,000 miles!!!).  When we were in the market for a new car, we could've gone the 10 year old model route, but with two small children, and the amount of time I spend driving back and forth to Salt Lake, I wanted something that I would feel comfortable in without worrying about it dying on the freeway.  Also, I didn't want to have to replace it soon.  I hate car shopping.  However, I love my SUV and I'm glad we went that route instead of the minivan route (nothing against minvans for all you minivan drivers out there.  It's personal preference that has a lot to do with how long my legs are.  Apparently, they're insanely long), but gas is expensive.  I just have to be cognitive of how much I'm driving and to where.  So far, we've done really good.  Pay them off already!

PLAN BETTER
This is our biggest budget buster.  We have to buy wedding presents or shower gifts or new tires for the car and then we're back to square one.  2010, we're going to start building these little "surprises" into our budget so that we don't get sidetracked by them.

So there's my financial goals for the year.  If you're looking to get on track financially, my first piece of advice is to establish where your money is going and how you can eliminate some of that overspending.  Next, set up a budget (financial tips installment #2--coming soon) and lastly, think of some REALISTIC goals you can make that will keep you on track.  Write them down and think of the steps you need to take to get you there.

I'm going to steal an idea from a friend, and update my financial goals quarterly.

Spiritual Thought Sunday--Quick and Easy

A few years ago, I read a book by the Dalai Lama.  It was really interesting and full of all sorts of wisdom.  Like, how he's a vegetarian 50% of the time.  He doesn't eat meat every other day.  Interesting.  But, it was chock full of other things too. 

However, I really liked this quote:

In the practice of tolerance, one's enemy is the best teacher.
--Dalai Lama

Think about it.  Mull it over. 

Interesting, isn't it? 

2010 Book Review #2

Book: Dog On It
Author: Spencer Quinn
Pages: 305

If you're a dog person--which, surprisingly, considering the two cats inhabiting my home, I am--you will LOVE this book.  

Bernie--and Chet--of Little Dectective Agency and is called out on a missing person's case of a 15 year old.  Mixed into the scene are a bunch of Russian thugs, a father deep in debt, and some other crazies that play minor parts.  Pretty much PI normal.

But, what makes it so unique is that it's told from the viewpoint of Chet.  A dog.  And if you've ever had a dog, you can totally relate to the stream of consciousness that the book follows.  It bounces all over the place.  Also, dogs like to nap.  And Chet was no exception.  Especially during really crucial parts in the investigation when Bernie is talking to someone about the case and they're about to say something.

Grrr...

But a good grrr...

Because the book was really funny.  And reminded me so much of my dog growing up I couldn't help but wonder if this is how all dogs think.

Loved it!  Great, fast, easy read.

The Wii Fit Plus

A few disclaimers: Nintendo did not give me a copy of Wii Fit Plus to review. This is of my own discord. I know quite a few people who LOVE their Wii Fit, so this is certainly just one person's opinion. And lastly, I am a very devoted exerciser, so please take that into consideration.


As I mentioned before, Santa brought me a Wii Fit Plus for Christmas. A friend who has been contemplating buying one asked me what my honest opinion of it was.

And so here it is.

I have heard about Wii Fit for a while now. And at first, I thought "wow, that'd be cool". But the reality is this: The Wii Fit is not going to replace my regular exercise routine. It will not keep me fit enough to stop killing myself in the winter by running in insane temperatures and resume running again in the spring time at my current fitness level. With that being said, there are a few things I do like:

Pros

• I do like how emphasis is placed more on your BMI (Body Mass Index--the ratio of your weight to your height) and not so much on just your weight. I think sometimes we get so caught up on that number on the scale that we fail to take in account how tall we are. It's more important to have a low BMI then a low number on the scale.
• The games are pretty fun. But they are just that--games.
• I was impressed with the Yoga poses, though I'm a yoga-tard and pretty much every pose I try that requires any flexibility is very difficult. Bonus for having the Wii Fit is that I don't have to embarass myself in front of others.
• Staying with the Yoga poses, I like how you have to concentrate on keeping your balance within a certain box on the screen because that seems to help me get the most benefit from each pose.
• In the Wii Fit Plus, you can customize a workout using the yoga and strength poses.  That part is REALLY cool.
• The strengthening exercises were a little challenging and can be made more challenging by upping the reps and/or adding weights. Again, you're trying to keep your balance within a certain range, so you're getting the most benefit for your effort.
• You can input your activities for things you do outside of Wii Fit (Wii Fit Plus only, I think.) However, there's a big con on that I'll discuss under the cons.

And speaking of cons, there are many.  And since there are so many I'm going to break them down into groups:

Body Test Cons

• Intially, the game asks how much your clothing weighs.  I don't know how much my clothing weighs.  That would require me to get on my scale upstairs nekkid, then put on my chosen outfit for the day, reweigh myself, come downstairs, turn on the Wii and precede.  That's a lot of extra steps.  But, to be helpful, they've given you three choices--all customizable in case you really are obsessed with how much your clothing weighs and you'll endure the above steps.  The options are: 2 lbs, 4 lbs, and 0 lbs.  If I'm wearing workout clothes, I opt for 2 lbs.  If I'm wearing my jeans, 4 lbs.  0 lbs is pretty self explanatory.  But I know these aren't 100% accurate (except for 0 lbs.).
• After it weighs you, it graphs your BMI onto a pretty little graph and then either praises you for your weight loss or chastises you for your weight gain.  Here's my beef:  I'm within a very healthy range for my height.  So, if I'm losing 2 pounds a day, it's because of (a) dehydration, (b) my clothing estimate is off or (c) I'm starving myself.  We can safely cross of (c) because I like to eat.  However, the Wii Fit should be smart enough to realize that someone who is safely within their healthy range is not going to be losing 2 pounds a day.  Thus, it should stop praising me and telling me I'm pacing myself well to my weight goal and should tell me to drink more water.  Also, a woman's weight will fluctuate 2-3 pounds on any given day.  So it should stop chastising me if I gain 2 pounds in a day.  If I gain 2 pounds EVERY day, then we have a problem.
• From the initial weigh-in, we move on to the tests to determine my Wii Fit Age.  These are pretty rudimentary and I've yet to figure out how it can analyze my "real-age" based on how well I can shift from one foot to the other. 

Training Cons

• In the yoga and strength exercises, you have to select each pose individually.  Then you follow the trainer on the screen.  At the end, it will rate you based on how well you stayed within the balance area on the screen.  Then it ranks you against your last performance or against others who have done the pose or exercise.  Finally, it will ask you if you want to quit or retry the pose/exercise.  Click on quit and then you're back to the screen with all the poses on it.   In short, a lot of work after the pose/exercise is done, just to get back to the screen with the rest of the poses/exercises.  However, those steps are eliminated when you use the customizable workouts.
• The yoga poses really aren't that difficult...you know, if you're not a yoga-tard like me. 

Games Cons

• The games don't last all that long.  It'd be fun if they lasted a little bit longer.  And they're pretty elementary.

Other Cons

• When you input activities that you've done outside of the Wii Fit, you are given three choices for how hard you worked.  You input your time and it calculates your calories burned from there.  However, the highest level only told me that I burned 360 calories for an 8 mile run I did--about 1200 calories according to my watch that knows how much I weigh and how tall I am and thus can calculate my calories burned accordingly.  It would make more sense if the Wii Fit allowed you to pick from certain activities and activity levels and adjusted your calories burned to correctly reflect that.  It has your weight and height stored anyways.
• Depending on how many calories you burn, you're given Fit Credits.  I've yet to figure out exactly what these are used for.  I recall reading that you get something for how many Fit Credits you earn, but nothing's been offered thus far.
• There's no way to go back and input activities for other days then the current day.  That REALLY sucks because there are times I don't get on the bike until late at night and don't want to fire up the Wii just to put that in. 
• The graphs are hard to read because it doesn't tell you what your BMI/weight was.  Just a little dot that is connected to the previous day's and next day's dot.  I like things in a list format so I can see that the weekends are bad for me because I tend to overeat, but by Wednesday, I'm back to where I was on Friday.  Stuff like that.
• Positive Reinforcement was definitely not a high priority for the developers of the Wii Fit.  Why would I want a game telling me I stumble when I walk or I'm overweight or I'm weak because my Wii Fit age is twice that of my real age?

Okay, so my overall impression is this:  There have definitely been some nice things about the Wii Fit, but I probably wouldn't have bought it myself.  It's a little rudimentary for the type of exercising I enjoy.  I don't break a sweat on it and it doesn't elevate my heart rate, so I'm not sure if I'm getting much benefit from it.  But I'm sure I'm getting some benefit from it, so I'll keep it going.  At the very least, it's complimentary to my running, but it will not be replacing it. 

If you're looking to lose weight, I'm not sure this is the route to go.  For starters, you have to play it.  You're not going to lose weight by it just being in your home.  Also, you have to be able to judge how much you need to play it to lose weight.  At $85 at Costco for the Wii Fit Plus, that's almost 3 months at the gym.  And you'd probably (a) use the Wii Fit as much as the gym and (b) lose more weight at the gym provided that you went to the gym. 

Since I don't live near a gym, and I've got a good exercise regimen set up on my own, the Wii Fit Plus is basically a glorified scale with a few moves thrown in there when I have time. 

What's For Dinner Wednesday--Cheese Chowder Soup

I LOVE cheese soups.  Love them.  And I'm always on the lookout for a good one.  This one may take the cake for awhile, it was that good.  Not Marie Calendar's Wisconsin Cheese Soup good, but dang close...(note to self:  Find Marie Calendar's Wisconsin Cheese Soup recipe...)  I found the recipe in the Amish Mennonite Cookbook that's been lingering around my cupboard for a few years.  I haven't cooked a lot of out it, so it may become a recurring player in my What's For Dinner Wednesday segments.  However, as it turns out, the Amish don't really eat all that healthy.

1--cook celery and onions in one stick of butter (see--not healthy).  I didn't measure it out, but the recipe calls for 1 cup celery and 1 small onion.  Turns out I didn't have an onion either, so I just sprinkled in some minced onion and called it good.

2--add four cups chicken broth.  I didn't have chicken broth by the can, but I did have bouillon cubes, so I just dissolved four of those suckers in 4 cups of hot water.

3--add diced potatoes and carrots.  I didn't measure that out either, but the recipe says 2 cups potatoes and 1 cup sliced carrots

4--Cook until tender.

5--add 2 cups milk and 2 tsp salt.

6--Mix 1 cup milk and 5 T flour in a separate bowl and then add to soup to thicken.  I'm not sure how much it thickened it, because the soup was pretty runny, so I'll have to experiment on that for next time.

7--Stir in 2-3 cups chicken (deboned) (duh?), 1 cup velveeta cheese, and 1 cup cheddar cheese.  I omitted the chicken because I don't like canned chicken (canned meat?  Ew) and I didn't want to take the time to cook my own chicken.  I estimated one cup of velveeta cheese to be half of a small brick (won't eat canned meat, but have no problem with proceesed cheese.  Go figure.)  and I didn't exactly measure out the cheddar cheese.

8--Heat until just heated through.  Don't boil.  (though I accidently let mine boil just a little bit and it tasted all right to me.)


See, not too hard, right?

Freudian Slip

I was originally going to post a review of the Wii Fit today, but after something I did on Saturday, of which I haven't been able to replicate, I am going to have to change my overall attitude towards it.  I'm still working on it, so plan on that tomorrow.  In the mean time, feel free to laugh at my expense:

Thursday night, I gave my tenth speech in Toastmasters.  This qualifies me as a Competent Communicator (who knew?) and I get some  kind of pin or badge or swift kick in the butt.  I can't remember which. 

The tenth speech is an inspirational speech.  The idea is to inspire people.  I thought I'd go with Team Hoyt.  In a nutshell, they are a father/son duo who compete in Iron Mans and Marathons.  The kicker is that Rick--the son--is a quadraplegic with Cerebral Palsy.  He doesn't have the ability to walk or talk, though he has a computer that he can hook up to "speak" for him. 

Anyways, it's really amazing to watch.  Here's a YouTube clip:



I could go on and on about Team Hoyt.  I think the father, Dick, is the example of true sacrifice and endurance.  I'm really in awe of them.

Anywho...

The main point I was trying to make was that we all have dreams that we think are beyond our scope or our ability.  However, if we surround ourselves with people who will lift us, carry us when we're too tired, be our legs and our arms, we can achieve those dreams.  They may seem impossible now, but we can make it happen if we want it bad enough.

Or something to that effect--I was winging it at that point.  Which would explain what slipped out of my mouth next:

"We all must find our Dick."

And there it hung (ha) suspended in air as I tried desperately to recind the statement.  But, it was too late.

Luckily, no one started giggling, and I concluded my speech and sat down.  My dad said he didn't even notice my blunder.  So maybe I can hope that no one else did either.

Which means (a) they are clearly more mature than me or (b) they weren't listening.