Sunday Sweets: Lemon Loaf

When we went away on our holiday, we had our next door neighbor look after our place. On our way back, just before we were about to board our flight in Vancouver, I all of sudden realized we had forgotten our keys at my parents' place. YIKES! So I called up our neighbor - luckily he was home! He would meet us at the airport with our second set of keys. So I knew I had to do something nice for him. I would bake him something! Of course when we brought it over to him with a thank you card, he told us we really shouldn't have - as he always does. But in my books, you should always try to show your appreciation. This time it was with this tangy, moist, delicious lemon loaf!

The great thing about lemons is that you can use them any time of year! These Coconut Lemon Squares are one of my go to recipes when you need something sweet, quick and easy! Lemon is right up there in my favorite baking flavours. LOVE it - especially in this loaf! And, the glaze just tops it off perfectly. I did a whole bunch of freezer baking prior to Little Miss' arrival and two of those were those squares and this lemon loaf. I actually cut them both up and individually wrapped the pieces so that you could just one at a time out of the freezer instead of hauling out the whole thing and having to eat it right away. It's an awesome thing to do! Portion control!!

LEMON LOAF

Makes 1 loaf

2/3 cup margarine or butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 cup milk

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tbsp lemon zest, grated

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

GLAZE

1/3 cup lemon juice

3 tbsp sugar

Cream the margarine and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well after each one. Add in the milk and beat well.

Combine the dry ingredients and lemon zest.

Stir until just moistened.

Pour into a greased 9x5x3 loaf pan and spread evenly.

Bake in a pre-heated 350°F for 60min until an inserted skewer in the centre comes out clean. Poke holes all over the top (careful not to poke through to the bottom) of the hot loaf with the skewer.

For the glaze, stir the lemon juice into the sugar until dissolved. Drizzle over the warm loaf and then let stand in pan for about 10 minutes. Use a knife around the edges to loosen the loaf and then remove from the pan
and let it cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Planes, Ferries and Baby Showers

Just thought I would forewarn you, this is a very long post. We were away for nine days! Lots to cover!

We just got back from vacation visiting my parents and sister. We flew down and this wasn't Little Miss' first plane ride. For an almost 10 month old, she's already quite the seasoned traveler. Coming home would mark her eighth time being on a plane. Just like all the other times, she did wonderfully! I was a little unsure as this would be the first time since she's been mobile. She did get a bit restless as she just wanted to get down and about. That's where those wonderful things called Cheerios came into play. What would we ever do without Cheerios?! This trip however, would mark her first time going on the ferry! We took some time to go over and visit my sister and brother-in law in Victoria. She loved it! She was constantly pointing out the window and when I took her outside she was so fascinated by the water. Most of all though, it was the people. She is such a people watcher. And kids! If there's a kid in the crowd, Little Miss will find them, most definitely.

D took it with his phone from inside the ferry so it looks like there's white smudges on Little Miss!

Again, smudges on the window. I don't wear dirty pants!

The weather wasn't all that great, but for the most important days (2 of 9) it was gorgeous. The first of those gorgeous days, we took Little Miss to the Vancouver Aquarium. Was that ever fun!! I couldn't even remember the last time I had been. Maybe when I was maybe 6 or 7? It sure has changed from what I could remember. Little miss would just stare at the tanks of the fish, but as soon as she saw a kid. That's all she wanted to look at - and there were lots! It was a great experience and I definitely recommend taking your family - Even better if you can find a coupon or discounts to go. We lucked out with a bogo coupon from our car rental! There was also a $2 off on the back of our ferry receipt, but we had already been. The highlight for me was definitely the new penguin exhibit. Little Miss loved looking at them through the glass. There was one who was quite smitten with her as well!

Re-design

It's finally done!!

I've been working on this re-design from initial concept to layout to html coding to completion for about three months now. Things are A LOT different with having Little Miss around. The projects most definitely take a back seat. But, I'm excited!!! It's done!!! I now can get down and dirty and back at it! It feels really good to have Terracotta Café up and running again.

There will be recipes. Really delicious recipes! Healthy recipes and not so healthy recipes. I mean, who am I kidding? It's all about balance, right? There needs to be some indulgences ;)

In the Terra Fit section I will be posting about my weight loss journey. Struggles, triumphs, exercises and nutrition.

Real life, it's just that. Real, everyday life. Parenting, kids, the home, fun stuff!

Welcome back to the Café!

New Project

Okay, so I majorly slacked on the challenge. Wouldn't be the first time! I think what happened was I was really hoping for a huge response, which I didn't see here. That disappointed me. But, I think that's where I went wrong. I should just do this for myself. That's what I originally intended. Just use this as a tracker for me. A good visual on my thoughts and progress. But I wanted to try and make it something bigger. Having a lot of people involved. I always have very expectations of myself and my projects - sometimes unrealistically high. It's a good thing and not so good all wrapped into one. Good because I think it's great to have big dreams and to want to go after them. Always strive for greatness. But for me, when I don't get 'my' expected results right away, I stop. Everything comes to a halt. I fall right back into my comfort zone. I apologize to anyone who was really going to try and follow along that I didn't follow through. Most of all I apologize to myself.

So, in the last few weeks I've been doing a lot of thinking, reflecting and brainstorming. All in my favorite and best place to do so - the shower! What came to me was brilliant! At least I thought so! My new project! What lead me there was the fact that I was struggling with finding the balance between Terracotta Cafe, Terra Fit, being a new mom and just life in general. So my new project is going to take the best and not so best of all those worlds and combine them into one. Which, essentially, is my life! This makes me very, very excited! I am currently working on the re-design and busy compiling ideas. So please bare with me during the process!

I will keep you posted as to when it will launch. As for now, this yummy mummy needs to get to back work on her handsome hubby's Chocolate Wasted Birthday Cake!

66 Day Challenge Workout #2

In this workout you'll be working your thighs, calves, glutes and shoulders.

Again, make sure to take 30 second breaks between the sets and use a weight that will challenge you where the last repetition is tough to complete. Also, complete all sets of an exercise before moving on to the next.

Workout #2

If you have any questions, fire away!

Get out there and totally ROCK IT!!!

66 Day Challenge - At home workout #1

As some of you were wanting to participate in the challenge, but didn't have access to the gym, so couldn't necessarily do the workouts posted, now you can! I have a series of workouts that are designed for at home using very little equipment.This workout was actually a part of my Terra Fit Challenge back in 2009. Also, as a side note all weekend challenges that are posted on the Facebook page, are all using your body weight, so you won't need a gym to participate in those either.

At home workout #1

Next weekend, I will post the at home workout #2.

Good luck and ROCK it!!

66 Day Challenge Workout 1

This workout is designed for women. I apologize if there are any males who are looking into this - haven't heard from any yet!

I am getting my workouts from Sam Omidi of Weightloss and Training.

He has designed this workout to be a 5 day routine with an optional 6th day for those of you who really want to get it going.

He recommends 30 second breaks between the sets and choosing a weight that will challenge you where the last repetition is tough to complete. Also, complete all sets of an exercise before moving on to the next.

Day 1 you will be working your arms and back together. Resistance training with weights is used to build muscle to burn fat.

Day 1 Workout

If you have any questions, fire away!

Get out there and totally ROCK IT!!!

66 Day Challenge

Why is it that bad habits are so hard to break? Why is it that time after time of trying to make a good habit stick, you just end up back at square one. Well, I've heard that to create a habit, it can take anywhere from 21 to 28 days. One day I decided to look into it. The majority of the pages I came across all seemed to say the same thing: if you REALLY want to make a habit stick, it will take 66 days. 66 days huh? Well I guess that makes sense. Time and time again we hear, "Well you didn't get here over night so it's not going to change over night." Well alright then - 66 days it is.

So I've been thinking about this for a while. The majority of that thinking has actually been taking place in the shower. I for some reason have my best brainstorm sessions in the shower! Being a new mom, the shower has become my escape! With a clear mind, the ideas just come to me! So I've decided to put together this 66 day challenge. I really want to make these habits stick. I'm still quite a few months away from going back to work as I'm still on mat leave, but I want to be able to have some real healthy habits in place before I go back to work. For me not only is this about creating healthy habits, but also continuing my weight loss journey.

I've created a worksheet as an outline for this challenge which can be found here:

Terra Fit 66 Day Challenge Worksheet

You can print it off and fill out by hand.  Or, to save as a Word doc, once you click on the link go to File->Download As->Word. You could then fill it in on your computer and save it that way. Once downloaded as a Word doc though, for some reason, the formatting changes slightly and it doesn't appear quite as pretty.

So with that said, here are my 66 Day Challenge daily goals:

1. Keep a daily food journal to track my consumption
2. Minimum 10-8oz glasses of water
3. Wake up at 6:30am
4. 25 squats - 25 push ups - 25 crunches

Nutrition:
Following a clean eating lifestyle, limiting the processed items.

Fitness:
Gym - 3-4x/week on Dave's day's off.
On Dave's work days I will rotate Kinect UFC Trainer & Your Shape as well as my bike trainer.
On nice days, I'll take little miss for a walk.

I'm using gym workouts from Sam Omidi of Weight Loss And Training. I will be posting these every second day.

As weekends always seem to get a little tougher, every weekend on the Terra Fit Facebook page, I will be posting mini challenges to keep us going!

If you'd like to join in the challenge, leave a comment. If it's still the same as before, if you don't have a Google account, just choose anonymous, but leave your name in the comment. The more the merrier and we can support one another!

Let's do this!! 66 days...ROCK IT!!!

Rewards

So I've been thinking about rewards for the last week. What is a reward? Well we all know, but I thought I would google the definition.

Reward: A thing given in recognition of service, effort, or achievement.

A thing given in recognition of service, effort, or achievement. Hmmm, okay. So a thing. What about the rewards we automatically get on this journey to health: improved health, an increase in energy, a fit body, knocking down our mental barriers, etc. I think those are pretty great rewards! But, sometimes we need to have something that we can actually see to remind us of our great achievements.

Last summer I was watching Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition with Chris Powell. He calls himself a Transformation Specialist. He has a degree in Exercise Science with concentrations in physiology and biomechanics. WOW! This guy knows what he's doing! One thing that I especially liked was his system. Each participant was given a year. He then broke that year down into 4 phases. Each phase had a specific goal and a reward. Now these rewards were HUGE! I of course don't have the deep pockets of ABC, so my rewards will be on a much smaller scale. I loved the idea of the phases. I thought that this was definitely something that I could use.

So the other day I sat down and thought about what my phases could be with goals and rewards. It's tough for me to put in deadlines as I'm nursing, I'm not quite sure how that would work. So I've set out my goals and rewards.

Here they are:

PHASE 1
Goal: 10% - 228lbs (-25lbs)
Reward: 2 new outfits

PHASE 2
Goal: Onederland - 199lbs (-29lbs)
Reward: iPad

PHASE 3
Goal: 10% - 186lbs (-20lbs)
Reward: Lululemon workout clothes

PHASE 4
Goal: THE BIG ONE - 160lbs (-26lbs)
Reward: Trip to NYC

Mini Phases
Goal: 20lbs
Reward: Massage

I'm looking forward to and very excited to achieve each and every one of these goals. When you have something very specific to work towards, it kind of takes the guess work out of getting there. Put in the work, reap the rewards!

Have you put a plan into place like this with your specific goals and rewards?

Skinny Super Bowl

We're having a Super Bowl party today and I decided to make lighter versions of popular Super Bowl party foods. Below are the links to the recipes I made:

1) Skinny Buffalo Chicken Dip recipe from Skinnytaste.com (1/2 cup - 3+pts) (I will be replacing the crumbled blue cheese with light cheddar - will update if points affected)
2) Skinny Baked Jalapeno Poppers recipe from Skinnytaste.com (2 poppers - 2+pts)
3) Tara's Guacamole (1/4 cup - 4+pts)
4) Mini Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing (1 mini - 2+pts) (I am replacing the sugar with Splenda +1/2 cup skimmed milk powder and an extra 1/2 tsp baking soda. (I actually halved the icing ingredients and sprinkled each cupcake with shredded sweetened coconut (1/2 cup for recipe))

So that's 12 pts for a serving of each of the above. To cut down on the pts to go with the dip, I will be having celery/carrot sticks instead of crackers or chips. As for the guacamole...we'll see. Guests are bringing chili, wings, tortilla chips and hummus. I think I'll stick to my dishes. Oh, I may also have to make a punch! I will probably do that with club soda, crystal light and fruit.

I'm excited for the party! I think this is the first time ever where I've planned ahead to make sure I provided options which fit in with my new lifestyle, but are still delicious and who am I kidding - fun!