Day 27: Muffin Juice?

Still juicing, juicing juicing. But I haven't had the motivation to update! Very sorry to all 3 of you lovely, loyal readers who have been waiting for this, here it is at last!

I've lost a total of 22lbs by this point and I'm wearing some of my smaller clothes again. That of course thrills me, but not enough to make me continue to fast beyond this month! I have been working out steadily for the past two weeks and I plan to continue that, along with healthy food choices, and lose another 30lbs. 

MY JUICER BROKE! That is in all caps because I did indeed yell a lot when it happened. My handy husband super glued the broken bit back on only to have in break again within hours. Oh the frustration! This was on Day 23! My Dad was over the second time it broke and I might or might not have shed some tears right before his inner Daddy hero came out just in time to save the juice fast! He called a friend of his who owns a really snazzy juicer and was willing to let me borrow it as long as I needed to finish the fast. Praise God for good friends and great family!

Now on to these beautiful muffins! No, I did not eat one. But I'm wilting outside the kitchen and I really needed a challenge to distract myself from unwanted thoughts of food. Oddly, it is cooking that most relaxes me. These are made from scratch, but do not despair! I'm not a talented baker and I still pulled it off. 

Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins

Raw

Cooked

Justin says they're delicious!

Ingredients:

For the filling:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

¼ tsp vanilla extract

For the muffins:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 tbsp. pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

4 large eggs

2 cups sugar

2 cups pumpkin puree

1¼ cups vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

For the topping:

½ cup sugar

5 tbsp. flour

1½ tsp. ground cinnamon

4 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Directions:

For the filling, combine the cream cheese, vanilla  and confectioners’ sugar  in a medium bowl and mix well until blended and smooth.  Once blended, cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator.

For the muffins, preheat the oven to 350˚ F, and line muffin pans with cupcake  liners.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pumpkin pie spice, salt and baking soda; whisk to blend.  In the bowl of an electric mixer combine the eggs, sugar, pumpkin puree ,, vanilla and oil.  Mix on low speed until blended.  With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated.

For the topping, combine the sugar, flour and cinnamon in a small bowl; whisk to blend.  Add in the butter pieces and cut into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender or two knives until the mixture is coarse and crumbly.  Transfer to the refrigerator until ready to use.

To assemble the muffins, fill each muffin well with a small amount of batter, just enough to cover the bottom of the liner (2 tablespoons).  Spoon a tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture into the very center of each cup.  Divide the remaining batter among the cups, placing on top of the cream cheese to cover completely.  Sprinkle a tablespoon of the streusel mixture on top of each muffin.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before serving, the cream cheese filling will be very hot!

I did not write this recipe! I found it on Pinterest.com and only tweaked it a bit. Perfect fall treat and you don't even have to be a fan of pumpkin! 

Two tips: 

1.) Be generous, never stingy with the vanilla extract. 

2.) Use more than 8 ounces of cream cheese, it's better to have too much than not enough filling!

Day 19: Just a quick update

Haven't lost weight in two days! I have two theoretical excuses for this:
1.) I put salt in my juices for two days, therefore I retained water. As evidence I would like to present my ring finger, where my wedding band is usually lose and is now snug do to the sudden onset fluid retention.
2.) For the third day in a row I've exercised vigorously. Fluid gathers around your muscles after exercise. 


I'm not bothered by the stand still as much as I expected to be. My clothes are fitting better and better and I can see a big difference in my body from head to toe. Therefore I'm going to juice right on through and hopefully I'll have some more weight loss to report soon!


My energy is fantastic! The increase in energy is my second favorite thing about this fast, right behind the weight loss of course!


One last thing, here is a link to several great recipes on the "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" website. Great resource, but just keep in mind that these are suggestions and you should modify them in any way that will help you like it, juice it, and drink it! For instance, I do NOT use ginger root! But you may like it!


http://jointhereboot.com/reboot-program/recipes/juice-recipes/


Happy Wednesday and thank you for reading!

The Skinny Chef

One of the worst pieces of weight loss advice I've ever read, received, or gave has definitely been: "Cook! Don't eat out!" Obviously this sounds like a winner, but have you ever eaten at MY table? I learned to cook at the elbow of my grandma, stirring pots for mama, and cracking eggs for Daddy. These people were raised on more than a little pork fat with a side of corn bread and biscuits. Having the knowledge I have, knowing how to make their savory repertoire of dishes, becoming the living embodiment of the most fabulous family cook book ever, is almost too much to bear. The temptation to add a little butter, mix up some corn bread, and forever abandon the battle for my waist line is a mighty one. 

So I'd officially like to add one very important word to the above advice and forever redeem it of its sabotaging nature. "Cook skinny! Don't eat out!" Honestly, this is not something which came naturally to me. But after almost three years in the kitchen with my wonderfully heath conscious husband, I realize that not every meal has to be incredible, sometimes it just needs to be healthy! With that in mind, I give you this:

We do our "major" shopping about once a week at the Commissary,
but several times a week we fill a buggy with fresh produce.

This recipe makes great leftovers in mass and for that reason I qualify it as "Sunday Night Cooking." That is when I make way too much of something only moderately delicious and put it away to warm up all week long! Be careful though, not everything qualifies as SNC (Sunday Night Cooking). Items such as savory, creamy, Sausage and Potato soup are much too delicious to make with the intentions of "freezing the leftovers." There's nothing to freeze when you lick the pot clean! So trust me and make this extremely healthy, tasty but not overly impressive crock pot recipe and you'll have a yummy, balanced meal on hand for days to come. 

*Crockpot Chicken Fajitas*

INGREDIENTS
2 chicken breasts (boneless and skinless)
2 cans diced tomatoes with liquid
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 eggplant, peeled and chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 medium onion, diced
10 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
salt, pepper, and chili powder to taste

NUTRITIONAL INFO
Calories: 109
Fat: 1g
Carbohydrates: 13g
Protein: 13g

INSTRUCTIONS
Cut chicken breast into 1 inch pieces. Prepare all vegetables. Combine all ingredients in crockpot. Cook on high for 4 hours, or low for 8 hours. Serve over rice or noodles. I suggest Basmati rice or whole wheat penne pasta!

Number of Servings: 10


(If this is too easy or if you're not crazy about the natural delicious flavor of veggies try adding some fresh cilantro and/or parsley leaves in the last hour of cooking. You might also want to add some tomato sauce later in the week to change it up a bit. Grate some cheese over it, go crazy!)