A Sorry-For-Being-A-Bad-Blogger Post In Pictures

The reason I've barely been on Blogger this week.

My grandmother watching my mom help me into the 1956 wedding dress that my stepmother so, so, so sweetly offered to let me wear, which she and her mother both wore.

Part of the dress that I love and may or may not be able to wear. When my stepmother wore it in the 80's, she had it altered from a smaller size to fit her - and she weighed 130lbs or less. I'm doing some pretty heavy work in the diet and exercise department but let's be real here, I don't weigh 130lb and probably won't in the next year. It can probably be further altered, but the lace sleeves are also shorter than my arms (in this picture they're not all the way up onto my shoulders) and the bodice is also shorter than my torso - I have long, lanky arms, and I just don't know if it can be altered all that much.

We'll see.

School starts tomorrow, and in preparation for my first math class I've done 200 algebra problems in the last two days. It's only just beginning.

So, I apologize if I'm a bad blogger in the coming weeks, but I won't be altogether absent, just frequently tardy.

Ringing in 2012 with an overnight guest.

This morning, we got a call from Tri State Collie Rescue. I'd been planning to shoot them an e-mail next week to see if they had anything they needed help with, but they called out of the blue this morning and asked if we were available for a transport today. A litter of 10 week old Collie/mostly Collie pups had been brought to an Ohio shelter and one smooth sable male needed transport that would require the help of four volunteers to get him from his original location to what I assume is his foster home in Martinsville, IN, about an hour south of where we live. The woman who was pulling him from the shelter was waiting around near the shelter, which was an hour and a half from her house, to see if the rest of the transport chain would come together. She couldn't take him to her house for any length of time, she was battling Giardia with her own dogs. The lady after her was a go. We were a go. But the pick-up/foster in Martinsville couldn't do it tonight unless it was urgent. Which is how Smooth Operator, as Eric nicknamed him, ended up with us overnight, until we take him to Martinsville tomorrow afternoon. I'm thrilled that my dog is finally mostly an adult; I'm really not all that much of a puppy person. I enjoy adult dogs more...but it's been very fun having this sweet little guy around. He's underweight and has spent his whole life outdoors, but he is so...unbelievably...sweet. He's cuddly and loving to the point of clingy, he's the biggest kisser on the planet.

The adults are unsure about this interloper.

Violet reluctantly shares her water bowl.

Hungry pup.

His spot, all night.

Or here...between our his-and-hers sheep pjs.

Or here...

Maybe here, too...

And a little bit of here.

He's really, really adorable. I hope he ends up with a very happy home in 2012.

Speaking of which, 2012. It's going to be a really big year. This is the year that I will/intend to...

• Get married.
• Start a family.
• Lose a certain amount of weight, or if nothing else, better health is inevitable with frequent exercise and a revamped cooking plan.
• Compete with Violet for the first time.
• Watch Eric compete with Piper for the first time.
• Get Violet's CGC.
• Maybe give herding a go, if we can find the time.
• Start college.
• Buy a second car.
• Recarpet the house.
• Put up a privacy fence? Maybe/probably.
• Continue to volunteer at the daycare, and continue to do my small part to help Collies with TSCR.

I have never been so excited about a year in my life.

Wonder Muffins.

The Violet picture apropos of nothing, this post is about recipes. Today kicks off Healthy Eating Week, which - budget and popularity allowing - will segue into Healthy Eating Lifetime. Eric, Adam, and Mary are far from health food fans, and in fact have absolutely no criteria for food other than "tastes good." I'm getting married in 11 months and I'd really like to take off some weight before then. My initial plan was to make them whatever and make myself a separate, healthy meal, but I decided that if at all possible, it'd be better and more cost effective to try to combine the two.

So tonight I embarked upon an easy, tasty sounding Hungry Girl recipe for Honey Mustard Pretzel Coated Chicken Fingers. They were awesome. Mary is allergic to anything relatively healthy and said that they were the best thing I've ever made, and Eric said that on a 1-10 scale they're an 8, and really, this is very, very high praise from him. The 16 year old liked them a lot, too. I wanted them to be a little crispier, but I enjoyed them. It's for 1, so I just multiplied as needed. Mind you, it's not truly health food, but it's not unhealthy. With some Green Giant Garden Medley (yummy red potatoes, sugar snap peas, and red bell peppers) and crescent rolls (still in the fridge from the last, less health-conscious shopping trip, and I'm not about to waste good crescent rolls), it was a great dinner.

PER SERVING (entire recipe): 349 calories, 2.5g fat, 928mg sodium, 39g carbs, 1g fiber, 13.5g sugars, 37g protein -- PointsPlus® value 8*

Ingredients: 

• 3 tbsp. honey mustard 
• 2 tbsp. fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters Original) 
• 5 oz. raw boneless skinless lean chicken breast, cut into 4 strips 
• 2 dashes salt 
• 2 dashes black pepper 
• 1 oz. (about 10 twists) hard salted pretzels, finely crushed 
• 2 tsp. granulated sugar 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Mix mustard with egg substitute in a small bowl. Season chicken with salt and pepper, and then submerge in the mustard-egg mixture. Set aside to marinate for at least 5 minutes.
3. Mix crushed pretzels with sugar and spread out on a plate.
4. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray. Thoroughly coat chicken strips with the pretzel-sugar mixture, and then transfer to the baking sheet. (Discard excess mustard-egg mixture.) Mist the tops of the strips with nonstick spray.
5. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, flipping chicken halfway through baking, until chicken is cooked through.
6. Eat and enjoy!

MAKES 1 SERVING

Awesome. I highly recommend it.

Meanwhile, I was baking. I found a recipe for Blueberry Power Muffins, intended as a breakfast. At 244 calories for two muffins and some decent ingredients (yogurt, almonds, oats, whole wheat flour), I thought, hey, why not? The recipe says that they can also be frozen and easily reheated for a breakfast, or just one with a 100 calorie bowl of oatmeal would make a nice, 222 calorie breakfast.

So I made them. I was a little leery because honestly, I'm not a fan of yogurt, and the batter smelled pretty yogurty. But if I may have a moment of adult language, holy shit. I tried one, and it was massively delicious. Like oh my god delicious. Like no one would know if I hid in the kitchen and ate them all delicious. Of course that would defeat the purpose of their relatively healthy properties, but I can't even believe that these things are healthy. Nothing that delicious can be healthy. I made it with skim milk, Egg Beaters, and probably slightly more blueberries than called for. Without further ado...

Blueberry Power Muffins with Almond Streusel

We call these "power" muffins because they're loaded with B vitamins from whole wheat flour, calcium from milk and yogurt, antioxidants from blueberries, and heart-friendly monounsaturated fat from almonds and canola oil. You can freeze the muffins for up to a month, then thaw them at room temperature, or microwave each muffin at HIGH 15 to 20 seconds.

Yield: 15 servings (serving size: 2 muffins)

PER SERVING: Calories: 244, Calories from fat: 23%, Fat: 6.1g, Saturated fat: 1.3g, Monounsaturated fat: 2.9g, Polyunsaturated fat: 1.4g, Protein: 6.1g, Carbohydrate: 42.3g, Fiber: 2.5g, Cholesterol: 18mg, Iron: 1.5mg, Sodium: 260mg, Calcium: 136mg

Muffin Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup quick-cooking oats
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups vanilla low-fat yogurt
• 1/2 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
• Cooking spray

Streusel Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds, chopped
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. To prepare muffins, lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, oats, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk.
3. Make a well in center of mixture.
4. Combine yogurt, milk, oil, vanilla, and egg, stirring with a whisk.
5. Add yogurt mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moist.
6. Fold in blueberries.
7. Spoon 2 rounded tablespoons batter into each of 30 muffin cups coated with cooking spray.
8. To prepare streusel, combine 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, almonds, brown sugar, and butter. Sprinkle evenly over batter.
9. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center.
10. Cool in pans 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pans.
11. Serve warm or at room temperature.

You want to make them. Get up, get off of Blogger, go to the grocery store, and make these muffins.