Tag Archives: diet plan

Beef Barley Soup

Leave a comment Standard

Have you ever tasted a hug? I have! This Beef Barley Soup is as comforting as one. Warm, rich and delicious it hits just the right spot as we head into colder temperatures. It doesn’t get any easier than this recipe!

I have directions for both the stBeegove top and instant pot/ninja foodi.

Ingredients:

2 tsp vegetable oil
1 1/2 pound top round steak (cut into one inch cubes, sprinkled with salt)
1 1/2 cups diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
7 cups beef broth (I prefer Better than Bullion)
1/4 cup minced garlic
1/2 cup minced onion
1/4 tsp ground thyme
1/4 tsp black ground pepper
3/4 cup quick cooking barley (not cooked)

Method of Preparation:

Turn pressure cooker to sauté mode on high, and add oil (stovetop heat your oil in your large soup pan). Once sizzling add the cut up steak, stirring frequently to brown all sides. You want to cook until most juices have evaporated, but a little left is ok, just make sure it is browned well.

Add carrots and celery and all seasonings. Give it a quick stir and add your broth and barley. Turn sauté mode off and attach lid. Set to high and pressure cook for 8 minutes. Once finished release pressure after sitting for 6 minutes.

On the stovetop bring to a boil then cover and cook on low for 20-25 minutes or until barley is done.

As always check the temp of your meat with both techniques to make sure it’s at a safe temperature.

To keep up with me:

New! Subscribe to my YouTube Channel

Follow my blog with the link in the left hand side bar (or bottom of the page if on cell).

Follow the My 30 Point Life Blog Updates on Pinterest

Follow and like me on my Facebook Page.

Join my Instant Pot Healthy Recipes group on Facebook.

Need a kick in the pants with your hug?  Join my Weight Watchers Tough Love Group on Facebook.

Like my blog?  My first and second novels have been released!  It’s set in a small, holiday obsessed town, and if you love Hallmark movies you’ll love this book series!

Going_Home_Final_Front SMALLs

The first book in the series is called Going Home. Becca, our heroine,  returns home after a 25 year absence to reclaim a sentimental family heirloom.  She hopes to go in and out unnoticed, especially by the man she’s loved since she was eight years old.

The odds are stacked against Becca, small towns being what they are.  Her 25 year old secret is about to be exposed, and she just might get a second chance at love.

Click here for a look inside!

Follow my Author page for updates and links to my books.


It’s Not Working

Comments 11 Standard

So your foray into (insert diet plan name here) is not working.  You aren’t losing, or aren’t losing as much as you used to lose when you did this before.

It’s frustrating.

I’m coming up to a year of being back on the wagon with Weight Watchers, and I found myself in the position just a few months after my restart, before I started this blog.  I mean when I did it in the past the weight just fell off me.  Like 3 or 4 pounds a week  (which isn’t healthy btw and probably why I didn’t keep it off).

This time is was more like a pound or two a week during the first couple of months, but then I started seeing losses that were like .2 pounds.  .4 pounds.  0 pounds.

So it’s human nature to try and find a reason why.  Surely it must be that something is different.  That something is preventing us from losing the weight like we used to lose it.

So I started paying attention.  I’m going to refer to what I found in calories for this post, because a lot of people that read me do not follow Weight Watchers.  I’m a cheerleader in doing what works for you, so I hope this can help anyone who is stuck.

I have a huge coffee addiction, one that I do not want to give up.  I get up at 3 AM!! to go to work.  If I don’t have my coffee, I will end up in prison.

I would not do well in prison.

Continue reading

Thanks A Lot FACEBOOK

Leave a comment Standard

It happens to us all I suppose.  You get tagged in that Pic on Facebook or Insta and you want to crawl into a hole.

Better yet, it resurfaces on Facebook year after year in memories (especially if a lot of others were tagged) and you get to live it all over again!

This picture is exactly a year old, next to one of me taken a couple of weeks ago:

faced

I remember like it was yesterday when it popped up on my Facebook feed.  I had to go to this event for work, and trust me I tried every stinkin’ thing I could think of to get out of it.

I was not a happy person, and I certainly wasn’t myself.

The evidence is in that picture.  Of course I had about 65 extra pounds on me, but you can just tell by my face that I was not happy, and I wasn’t.

Not long ago I would have been so excited to be going to a formal event.  Now it filled me with dread about what I was going to wear, how I would feel.  I mean that second picture is of me in my pajamas and I had done more to my hair and makeup then than for a formal event?

I had a lost a big part of who I was, and it was time that I found it.  I’ve shared with you all the picture that sent me running to Weight Watchers:

before1

And now I share with you the picture that actually made me do Weight Watchers:

face

Yes when I saw that picture I knew I had to make some changes, big changes.  I didn’t want to be someone who just didn’t care about their self.

Even in the floral dress from hell pic I have my hair and make up done.  That’s kinda who I am.  My job doesn’t really allow for too much girly-girly stuff, so I usually go all out when not at work.

How does this happen?  How do we lose ourselves so quickly?  God knows I had some hard times before I got to this point, and I am thankful every single day that I was able to drag myself out of this….mess that had become my life.

What a difference a year makes, huh?  All of you that have pictures just like that girl in the formal dress who was wishing to GOD they wouldn’t take pictures, I want you to think about this girl:

hpj

You can be that girl.  Maybe not in a month, hell maybe not even in a year, but you can do it.  It won’t be easy, and I’m sorry but there is no magic pill that will make it all melt away.

It is worth it though.  The picture says it all.

To keep up with me:

Join my Weight Watchers Tough Love Group on Facebook.

Follow my blog with the link in the left hand side bar (or bottom of the page if on cell).

Follow the My 30 Point Life Blog Updates on Pinterest

Follow and like me on my Facebook Page.

Join my Instant Pot Healthy Recipes group on Facebook.

 

 

Weigh in 5/6 – If only it were Magic.

Leave a comment Standard

The GIF associated with this post is what I send to people at work that want something done right away.  In case you are not old like me this is Tabatha from a show called “Bewitched” (and it’s actually before my time too, just saw it a lot on reruns.  I swear) and she would wiggle her nose and get what she wanted.

I stopped sending this when one of the engineers at work said “Awww is that you?” Yep, old.

Anyway….It would be so much easier if you could twitch your nose and lose the weight.  I did well this week, lost 1.8 pounds, but I’m working for it.  Which is kind of the point.  You have to work for it.  You have to be mindful and you have to move your body.

If something tells you it’s magic it’s wrong.  It is Math.  Pure and simple.  I get tired of answering all the “How did you lose all that weight??” questions with Weight Watchers because I’ll get a ton of “oh you should try this fill in the blank diet next” or “Weight Watchers doesn’t work” or “but do you eat white stuff” blah blah blah.  So my standard answer now is “I burn more calories than I consume.”

Really that is what it all boils down to, whether you do Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig or Whole 30 or Atkins or the damn Hotdog Diet.  You have to eat less than what you expel.  Period.

The trick is to find something that works for you.  A family member of mine is always saying that white stuff is poison and we cannot lose weight if we eat white stuff.  I eat white stuff.  I’ve lost almost 40 pounds, 65 if you count my highest weight.  Hey, if not eating white stuff works for you, that is awesome.

I’m not going to never eat bread again.  I’m not going to never eat a potato again.  If there is one thing I have learned in my 46 years on this Earth is you best find something you can live with the rest of your life.  There is no “done”.  I’ve watched this family member drop huge amounts of weight only to gain it back along with the same amount of friends.

I’ve never done that with Weight Watchers, and God knows I’ve done it enough times.  I just get smaller each time I come back.  I’ve learned valuable things that fit me and how I want to live.

Find that and you are golden.