Sunday lunch - Pesto Chicken Bake

I found this Skinny Chicken Pesto Bake recipe the other day on SkinnyTaste.com and finally gave it a try Sunday afternoon after church.  I only recently became a fan of pesto sauce, I don't know why it took me so long to try it but I absolutely love it.

I followed the recipe pretty closely except I did not make the homemade pesto; I used the Kroger Private Selections brand.  This dish was very easy, quick and extremely delicious.  Would be a very easy after work meal to make one evening.  No doubt I will be making this again.  Since I didn't use much of the pesto sauce on the chicken I made pesto pasta to go alongside.  Super yum!  I love all things pasta.

SkinnyTaste.com is one of my go-to sites when I'm looking for a healthy recipe or just have a hankerin' for something different.  I've tried several of the recipes on there and haven't found one yet that I did not like.  I highly recommend it.

The sweatin' part

Here's a little more explanation on the sweatin' part of my new blog title.  It's kind of 2 part.

I'm a sweaty girl.  Period.  In the past couple of years there's been a rebirth of my love for exercise.  In doing so, one sweats...though in my case a lot more than any normal person.  I actually have a condition called hyperhidrosis.

Hyperhidrosis is basically excessive sweating of the armpits, hands and feet.  Here's a link if you'd like to learn more.  http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hyperhidrosis/DS01082

I've basically had this since I started puberty.  I really didn't realize it was an issue until one day I looked around me at a ball game I was attending and noticed that no one else had large sweat rings under their pits even though it was extremely hot out.  I just remember thinking, wow, yeah, this is not normal to sweat this much.  

It's pretty much something I deal. I've tried prescription strength deodorant but the itching it caused in my pits was horrific and it eventually stopped working anyway.  There are other options but none I really wish to pursue.  I've prayed, and prayed, and prayed for healing and will continue praying.  I know God is the ultimate healer and I will be healed one day but for now this issue is just something I've just learned to live with and find it to be fairly manageable most days.

I don't spend a lot of money on tops because my shirts don't last more than one or two seasons.  Sweat stains are nasty!  I try to wear colors that don't show the sweat as bad or will wear a cardigan, sweater or jacket (even on a warmer day) if I'm wearing a color that will show an obvious sweat ring.  Then there are some days that I have to wear socks because my feet are dripping.  I can't wear certain sandals or flip flops because I'll slip and slide all around in them.  I have to a sandal that will absorb sweat or a shoe that I can wear a footie with.  Most of my shoes end up stinky, stinky.  Thank God for Gold Bond powder!  For my hands I keep a napkin or tissue in my pocket on the days it's really bad.  If you've ever wondered why I have a fabric steering wheel cover...well now you know.

I've found that certain situations will definitely exacerbate the issue: hormones, stress, anxiety, heat, new or large social interactions, hand holding.  I hate when our pastor says, "if you're comfortable with this take the hand of the person next to you."  Inside I'm screaming, "I'm not comfortable!!", which only makes matters worse because then I'm sweating more because I'm uncomfortable.  Then there are days when I seem totally non-affected.  For instance, most of my days at the office, where I've been working for several years, I will stay totally dry.  Or there are certain circles of friends that I can be around and won't have any issues at all.  But then there are some days that I'm not stressed or anxious, it's not hot, I'm all by myself and I'm dripping with sweat.  It's the oddest thing.

It occurred to me recently that sweating is a really good thing.  I knew it was natural; sweating is our body's natural way of cooling, protecting our heart and rids the body of toxins.  I'm not sure what God is doing here or why he designed my body to sweat in excess but I trust that He knows.  Maybe this is my thorn in my side.  I'm not sure.  But what I do know is that I can't allow this condition to control my life.  The God of the universe is in control and he can use this sweaty girl any way he likes.  Thy will be done, Lord.

Monday's dinner

It's my desire to blog about dinner options and other fun things I like to cook.  As a working mom it's tempting to just pick something up for lack or time or decisiveness.  So I thought if I can blog about some of the things my family loves to eat (or don't like to eat) then this would be a good go-to place for ideas when my brain has decided to check out and I can't think past 5 o'clock.

So, with that.  Here's what I made for dinner last night.

These pizza crusts have become a staple around my house.  I can pick up a package with 4 thin pizza crusts at Costco for less than $6.  And since I prefer thin crust to thick crust this is a real treat in my opinion. Though I do have to say that sometimes a pan pizza from Pizza Hut with the right toppings can really hit the spot.  But overall, thin crust is always my first pick.


My son has recently decided to become a vegetarian so homemade pizza is a great choice for making a vegetarian meal.  The crusts at Costco come with the pizza sauce so all I had to pick up at the store was cheese and toppings.  I wish I had thought to take a pic of the pizza I made but it was gobbled up too quick.  I made a spinach, mushroom, tomato pizza.  Yum.  Yum.

Since I had some ground beef thawed out last night as well I went ahead and whipped up a batch of Zatarain's Dirty Rice.

This was my first time trying this dish but I heard it was really good and I've been wanting to try it for a long time.  I figured what we didn't eat we could have the next night since I was making pizza too.  I know, sounds like an odd combo with the pizza but I just felt like cooking.  I enjoyed the dish but I don't think my husband did.  I ended up taking some of the leftovers for lunch the next day and it was a filling lunch.

Then, apparently I wasn't tired enough after making the previous two meals so I decided to make these egg frittata muffins that I found on thetastyfork.com.  These turned out pretty good though I don't think I chopped up enough spinach, I should have packed my measuring cup a bit more.  They still tasted great either way and now I have breakfast for the next two mornings...if they don't mysteriously disappear.  I love ricotta cheese!

It's been a while

I've been thinking about returning to my blog,  it was rather interesting to read back over some of my previous posts this evening and I kind of miss it. Either way it's a great way to journal the things you want to share with others.  I tend to be private with my thoughts mostly out of fear...no, definitely out of fear of judgement or embarrassment.  Another lie from the enemy that I've listened to for too long.  Imperfect progress.  

Random things that happened to me today:

My hair dryer officially died this morning mid-dry so I went to work with my hair half dry.  Or half wet for the pessimist.  Unfortunately I forgot to pick up a new one today so I'll either go to work with wet hair or oily hair tomorrow.  Geesh

The woman in front of me at McDonald's today ordered 10 sugars and 10 creams in her SMALL coffee!!  Thank goodness I don't sit next to her cubicle.

Garden Project

Here are some pics of our patio garden project we started this year. 

The tall box has flowers and peppers.  The short box has tomatoes and 1 cucumber plant. 

This has been a fun project for Keither and I to work on together.    The boxes were built from recycled materials we already had so the start up costs were minimal. 

I'll try to post more pics as they grow.

Something new

Trying out something new today.  I am posting from my phone so I hope this post ends up in the right place and not out floating around in cyberspace somewheres. 

Reached my 10% weight loss goal today!!!!  This is big news, y'all!!!  Here is a pic of my WW reward.   It's a keychain if you can't tell. 

Glory, glory, hallelujah!!!  I'm very excited and honestly didn't expect this at all this week.  I knew I was down some but I wasn't sure how much.  The scales at WW never match mine so this was a very nice surprise after having gained the past two weeks.  Yes, I said two weeks.  That was quite discouraging but also ticked me off to the point that I said enough is enough. 

My WW leader said something last week too that really stuck with me.  She said, ”it's not a fall if you choose to get back up.”

Thank you, Lord, for picking me back up. For you are my source and strength. 

Saturday

I think I'm suffering from early empty nesting. Jakob's spending the night out, again, and I find myself moping around the house. He turns 15 this week, which doesn't help things. I'm really enjoying the time with my hubby though, our relationship has really grown stronger this past year. Praise the Lord! But the void of my kiddo brings a bit of sadness to my heart. He's growing up and I just have to accept that he won't live with me forever.

On a happy note, I'm down 14.4 pounds since I started Weight Watchers back in October! I'm moving at a snails pace but I'm okay with that. In fact, I'm ecstatic! I found a Zumba class that I absolutely love and look forward to every week. It's a lot of booty shaking and sweating and is so much fun! I think it may be time to look for some new jeans, which I find oddly scary and exciting all at the same time.

Well, back to doing some laundry or playing this traffic puzzle game I found on my phone that I'm totally addicted to. I know, I'm a dork. :-)