Erin with an E

Today is my 3 week anniversary with 24 Hour Fitness. Go me! I was kind of shocked when I walked into the locker room to see a lady completely naked walking down the aisle. I didn't know we were living in Europe. Also after my workout there was another lady using the mirror etc to dye her hair. I didn't know that was what the mirrors/sinks were for. Hmm..

I had a friend give me a dozen gourmet cupcakes for my birthday.

There was no way I was going to be able to not eat all of them in one sitting. In fact, I'm pretty impressed I only had one. I decided to share the wealth. I cut them up and had people come and get whatever they wanted. Otherwise I was really going to eat them all. I was actually sick to my stomach on Monday thinking of them sitting at my house. I "accidentally" ate one of them, plus 3 of my leftover cupcakes on Sunday. Some people that I invited couldn't come so they're coming tonight. After that I'm putting them down the disposal because I don't trust myself with them sitting in my garbage.. I know that's sad (and gross), but I gotta do what I gotta do.


I went to the gym last night. Did an amazing 30 minutes of cardio and it felt wonderful. Then Denise and I did the water aerobics class. I could have pushed myself a little harder, but it was dang fun.


I felt so lazy not going to the gym on Sunday. It was so crazy to me. I thought last night that once I lose all my weight I think I would make a great personal trainer. Maybe that's something I can look into. Add that on top of my AMAZING cooking skills and I'd be set. Thursday makes it 3 weeks. Isn't there a saying along the lines of if you do it consecutively for 21 days it becomes a habit? This is a habit that I don't mind having. Seriously. It's amazing. I feel better now then I can ever remember.

Pictures to come, but I'm throwing away this piece of paper with what I had so I wanted to share the recipes with you.

Margarita Chicken Skewers (serves 12)
1 1/2 pounds skinless boneless chicken breasts cut into strips
1 10-ounce can frozen margarita mix, thawed
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tbsp chicken seasoning

(I used the Jose Cuervo already made margarita mix, added 1/2 can of frozen limeade. I also added some salt)

Place the chicken, margarita mix, cilantro and chicken seasoning in a large resealable plastic bag, squeeze out the air and seal. Massage the bag to combine the ingredients. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour. I skewered them and then baked them in the oven at 425 for 15-20 minutes. The recipes tells you to grill them on medium. If you do this then you'll want to soak the skewers while the chicken is marinating. Then you grill them 1 to 2 minutes per side or until the meat is cooked through.


Stuffed mushrooms

24 Medium mushrooms
3 Tbsp butter
1 small onion, chopped
3 oz. cream cheese
3 Tbsp. grated Parmesan
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 cup bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Remove stems from mushrooms. Chop enough stems to make 1 cup. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in saucepan. Brush mushroom cap tops with butter, place top side down in a shallow baking pan and brush undersides of caps. Heat remaining butter in same saucepan. dd chopped mushroom stems, onion and garlic and cook until tender. Stir in cream cheese, combining with fork if necessary. Add Parmesan cheese, parsley and bread crumbs. Mix thoroughly. Spoon about 1 tablespoon stuffing mixture into each mushroom cap. Bake until heated through (10-15 minutes).

Those were the main recipes. If you want more let me know. Like I said.. pictures to come.

Today is my two week anniversary with 24-hour fitness and I love every minute. My trainer is fabulous. We'll be lifting weights and he'll ask me how it's going. I'm actually honest with him and if it's too light I tell him and he gives me more weights. The other day we were doing bicep curls and shoulder presses. The first time we did them I rotated from a 10lb to 12.5lb free weight. This time there weren't any 12.5lb weights so he gave me a 15lb. He said he bet that I could go higher if I didn't know what the weight was. I think that's true. I tend to psyche myself out the higher the weight because I'm so unfit. We did leg presses and I started out at a 5 (funky weight system). He told me I needed to go higher (mostly because I moved the weights with just one leg).

I need to work a lot on my cardio. Right now I'm sticking with the bike and treadmill. I spend most of my time on the bike and then finish up with the treadmill. I tried my luck on the elliptical and failed after 5 minutes. I need to work myself up on that one. Matt thinks it's funny to threaten me with the stairmaster. I work with Matt Tuesdays and Thursday. I'm supposed to do cardio MWF and then he'll give me a work out to do by myself on Saturdays. I thought the twice a week would work best because it would lengthen the time I have with him. It's been going really well. I WANT to go to the gym. The other day I got back from my session and I wanted to go back to the gym. It's crazy. I'm becoming a gym rat. Last night I played volleyball and then went to the gym and did my full cardio. I was going kind of easy at the beginning (what I thought was actually a good pace) and then Matt (my PT) told me I needed to have my heart rate around 140 for good cardio. That was just extra work for me to do last night, but I did it. I'm feeling so good. Last night, before I went to bed, I was actually excited to do triceps pressess/curls and lunges. I hope the madness doesn't stop.

I've made a huge investment. Not on some up and coming new company. None of this trading cds for stock depending on the nasdq and s&p (I'm pretty impressed I know all those terms). I just bought a bunch of sessions with a personal trainer. He has practically killed me the last week working with him, but I really feel good, even in this short time. I definitely feel like this is a good decision for me. It cost more than my first car and I don't have any buyer's remorse. I'm going to be sore. I'm going to want to to quit, but I need to do it for me. I'm turning 30 next week. I don't want to be overweight and unhealthy the rest of my life. Nothing that I have done in the past has worked. I was never this committed. I'm going to have to keep reminding myself. I'm going to be working with him twice a week for the 4 months. I'm super excited. Here's to the next 30 healthy years.

Football season is upon us. My family happens to be serious BYU fans. This means we all gather at the grandparents to watch the games together. This first game against Ol' Miss was actually quite boring until the 2nd half. But the best thing about going to watch is that I get to make something to take along!

I saw this recipe on one of our favorite cooking blogs the-girl-who-ate-everything.com. It is delicious. I served it with apples and graham crackers.



Peanut Butter "Cheese Ball"
from my friend Jenni; adapted from Nestle

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter (not all-natural)
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
3/4 cup peanut butter chips
Graham cracker sticks, teddy grahams, and/or apple slices for dipping

Directions:
Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar in large mixer bowl until blended.

Spoon onto a large piece of plastic wrap; bring up all four corners and twist tightly forming into a ball shape.

Freeze for 1 hour 30 minutes or until firm enough to keep its shape. Place peanut butter and chocolate chips in flat dish. Remove plastic wrap from ball and roll ball into morsels to completely cover, pressing morsels into the ball if necessary.

Place ball on serving dish; cover and freeze for 2 hours or until almost firm. (Can be made ahead. If frozen overnight, thaw at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes before serving.) Serve with graham cracker sticks, teddy grahams, or apple slices for

Another new cheese ball that I tried yesterday for a work party and made again for the football game is a Feta Cheese Ball. We paired it with crackers at work, but someone made a comment that it would go well as a veggie dip too, so I brought veggies tonight. My sister and I both think that it would be great on sandwiches, pitas especially (from Allrecipes.com)

Feta Cheese Ball (makes 2)

Ingredients

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
4 tablespoons olive oil
5 green onions, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 teaspoons dried dill weed
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
Directions

In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, feta cheese, olive oil, green onions and garlic. Season with dill, oregano and pepper. Mix well, and form into 2 balls. Cover, and chill for 2 hours.

Can you believe it? I didn't take any pictures!