Disney World - Part 1 - Why We Went and Upfront Thank Yous

(First in a series of posts about our vacation from April 2012 to WDW)

Disney employees are well trained in ways to connect with their guests and prospective guests.  A frequent question is "What are you celebrating"  Because WDW is a place to celebrate lots of things...Birthdays, Weddings, Anniversaries, Engagements, Children...

We got to test their skills though when Shannon told them "I have cancer".  Mostly, there was awkward pauses, apologies, one person congratulated her (he thought she was saying it was her anniversary from being cancer free).  Sadly, that is really the main reason we are here...or the underlying one anyway.  Shannon has cancer, and we don't know what the future holds.  So, this is our chance to create a very magical memory together so that the kids will always remember all of us together here, with nothing dragging us down.

Now, let me steer back to the happy path. Because while that is the underlying reason, it's not really why we're here.  We're here to give our kids an unforgettable experience.  We're here to celebrate life together.  We're here to give us a boost to surge forward in what's going on outside of the nice vacation life.

So, with all that in mind....I have to first thank NUMEROUS family, friends, and others without whom this LITERALLY wouldn't have happened.  Our parents helped us in many ways...financially, strategically (planning), shopping for kids' supplies, watching pets, transporting us to and from the airport.  I cannot thank them enough.  We also had many friends who gave the kids things like Disney clothes, games, toys, and lots of little things to keep them happy on the ride down.  As much as this was us trying to give this memory to the kids, it was also all of you giving us the ability to give this memory to the kids.

Soon, Part 2 will be the journey down and the first few days in detail...

30 Days 30 Dinners - Day 14 and 15

Hitting the halfway mark today.  If I have to make one observation...I'm depressed and ashamed a little of how many "eating out" meals have shown up here.  Many times, it's a necessity of our schedule, and I generally eat well wherever we go, but man, some of these choices just really push the limit of the diet...

Day 14 - Kids fell asleep on the way home from my parents, so it was just the parents for dinner.  By the time we got home and got them all settled, no way we had time to cook anything really.  So, we went for our Belisimo's Sub Shop.  I got chicken cheesesteak, no mayo because I use my Hellman's Light Olive Oil Mayo.

Day 14 - Totals:

Calories: 625
Fat: 23 g
Carbs: 45 g
Protein: 57 g

Day 15 - I had gone to the grocery store and planned to cook, but we had to make a late Target run to get some Disney things.  Given that Noah had been awake at 1am yesterday and still had not passed out, we elected to just eat out.  Went with Bob Evans, which has a great Fit From The Farm menu for dieters...I ordered the Potato Crusted Flounder, but through a mixup ended up getting the Salmon meal instead.  No biggee, that tasted good too.  I also ate half a roll.

Day 15 - Totals:

Calories: 561
Fat: 11 g
Carbs: 70 g
Protein: 55 g

30 Days 30 Dinners - Day 11, 12, and 13

This week was a pretty awful week in terms of meals.  I didn't even get to the grocery store proper until Wednesday night, and the last two nights, the things I ate were more quick ideas than planned meals.  Nonetheless, I continue the challenge...

Day 11 - Knowing I'd have to hit the true grocery store later, I just grabbed stuff to do pork chops or quesadillas...Noah picked quesadillas.  With those, I do a version for everyone else, and a version for me...

1. LaTortilla 100 calorie, 98% Fat Free tortilla
2. 0.3 cup of 2% Mexican Shredded Cheese
3. 1.5 ounces chicken breast
4. 1 serving Jimmy Dean Turkey Sausage Crumbles
5. Light Sour Cream and Salsa to top it off, 2 tbsp and 1.5 tbsp respectively.

Day 11 - Totals:

Calories: 373
Fat: 15 g
Carbs: 30 g
Protein: 37 g

Day 12 - So, I made pork chops, with yellow rice and peas.  This is a dinner I blogged on Day 4.  I planned on eating that...But then both kids took until 9pm for bedtime, the dog needed care and attention until about 9:45, and then I started packing/planning for Disney.  Basically, it was nearly 10:30 before I decided I needed to eat.  Didn't feel like having something to cut up, so I went for the leftovers approach, though I liked the yellow rice so much, I threw that in too...

1. Turkey burger (From Day 10...same toppings and all)
2. 1 cup of Vigo Yellow Rice

Day 12 - Totals:

Calories: 461
Fat: 16 g
Carbs: 51 g
Protein: 32 g

Day 13 - We used to do this most Fridays, but had gotten away from it in the last month or so.  Noah asked for it again tonight, so I made him a pizza.  Ham and Pineapple, which is his favorite and the only one I've made at home really...

1. Boboli pizza shell
2. 1 cup pizza sauce
3. 3 oz ham
4. 0.75 cup of diced pineapple
5. 1 cup of Kraft 2% Italian Three Cheese blend
(This is what I used to make the whole pizza, which is cut up into 8 slices.  We each had two slices for dinner, so that is what the totals are based from)

Day 13 - Totals:

Calories: 420
Fat: 15 g
Carbs: 54 g
Protein: 19 g

I'm Not a Gourmet Cook, But I Try...: "The Best Broccoli"

Taking a quick break from 30 Days 30 Dinners (catchup post is coming tonight) to do a recipe for broccoli.  Huh?  It's broccoli, you say...Grill it, steam it, bake it, whatever, it's just broccoli.  My mother can attest...I've never been a huge fan of broccoli.  If you put it in a casserole or something, it's fine, I can kind've "hide" it among the other foods.  But the stems on broccoli really don't light my tongue up, and hey, it's like eating a mini-tree!  But, it's a necessary annoyance and I deal.  But Shannon found this in her pinterest searches a month or so ago and it'd been sitting in the hopper, waiting for a time to try it.

I'm not the only one in my family displaying their cooking skills for the FB and Twitter world to see...My little brother and his fiancee have been trying stuff and showing the results as they cook in their apartment.  They don't have the cooking flexibility I do (Community grill, didn't have a crockpot until recently), but he also has a bit more "gourmet" than I do, since there are no kids there to appeal to with cooking.  So my mom sees us both doing this, and gets an idea....POTLUCK EASTER!  Which is good, since she usually cooks it all, and it's a good way to help her out, but it did kind've put us on the spot.  We drew the "side dish" straw...to lasagna.  Lasagna is practically it's own side dish!  But, Shannon said "why not try the broccoli recipe?"  And so we did....

It's called "The Best Broccoli of your Life", guaranteed to make you lick the broccoli off your plate, even if you don't like broccoli.  From someone who doesn't like broccoli...they are pretty close on that call.  So, here is my own little spin on the original recipe (Found here: http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2008/11/the_best_brocco.html)...


The Best Broccoli

3 crowns of broccoli, cut off most of the stems (Or about 5 cups broccoli)
3 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 bulb of garlic, each clove peeled and cut into thin slices
0.5 cup of shredded parmesean cheese
salt
pepper
1 lemon (Will need some sort of grater too)

1. Pre-heat oven to 425
2. Cut up broccoli and garlic, then layer out on foil-lined cookie sheet(s)
3. Top with salt, pepper, and EVOO
4. Bake until broccoli is starting to get browned on the tips
5. Zest a lemon (I had to look this up, it means just run the lemon over a grater until the whole peel is down to the white fleshy part) over the broccoli, then squeeze out all the juice over the broccoli
6. Top with the cheese and some more salt and stick back in the oven (with the heat turned off, so just use the residual heat to melt the cheese)
7. Once the cheese is soft and melty, take it out and mix it all together


Per 0.5 cup:

98 calories
7.7 g fat
5 carbs
5 g protein

Notes:

• The fat content on this is a little high, but worth it, in my opinion.

30 Days, 30 Dinners - Day 10

Still never got out to the grocery store proper, BUT I made a quick run this morning and grabbed ground turkey.  So, per Noah's choice, tonight's dinner was turkey burgers.

1. 4 oz of lean ground turkey, topped with Hellman's light olive oil mayo, BBQ sauce, and 2% cheese slice
2. 12 pieces of crinkle cut fries
3. 0.5 cup of green beans

Totals

Calories: 541
Fat: 21 g
Carbs: 65 g
Protein: 33 g

30 Days, 30 Dinners - Day 9

Given the busy weekend, we hadn't had a chance to do grocery shopping...And didn't get the chance today either, due to stuff for work and shopping for Disney after work.  So we ended up having to do food out, got Chinese from a new place in Westminster.  Another good opportunity to show that you CAN eat out somewhere on a diet and find a workable solution...

1. 1.5 cups Shrimp Fried Rice
2. 0.5 cup white rice

Totals

Calories: 485
Fat: 10 g
Carbs: 82 g
Protein: 17 g

30 Days, 30 Dinners - Day 8, Easter

Easter Dinner.  This is going to be a toughy.  Holiday dinners are just going to be bad in general, but I figured with a breakfast that was pretty healthy and skipping lunch, I should be okay....

So...

1. Roughly 6 oz of smoked ham
2. 5 asparagus stalks
3. 0.5 cup of pasta salad
4. 1 deviled egg
5. 0.5 cup yellow corn
6. 2 dinner rolls

Totals

Calories: 856
Fat: 36 g
Carbs: 86 g
Protein: 48 g

So, pretty bad.  But I still made it within my ranges for the day.

30 Days, 30 Dinners - Days 4, 5, 6, and 7

And here comes my first catchup post.  I didn't stop tracking, I just took a break for a bit.  But here we go.  Less filler of commentary, more facts!

Day 4 - Pork Chops Shake'N'Bake Style (Talladega Nights shoutout), Yellow Rice, Peas

1. 5.3 ounce pork chop (bone-in) w/ 1 serving Shake'N'Bake coating
2. Vigo Yellow Rice, 1 cup prepared (without optional margarine or oil)
3. 0.5 cup green peas

Day 4 - Totals:

Calories: 467
Fat: 9 g
Carbs: 62 g
Protein: 27 g

Day 5 - Seafood Night!  4 oz catfish fillet, with 1/4 cup of my cornmeal breading, shrimp grilled in a little EVOO and butter, Idahoan Baby Red Mashed Potatoes, and Crinkle Cut Carrots

1. 4 oz catfish fillet with 0.25 cup of white cornmeal and 0.06 cup of white flour
2. 10 shrimp with 0.2 tbsp of EVOO and 0.2 tbsp of butter
3. 0.67 cup of Idahoan Baby Red Mashed Potatoes prepared
4. 0.5 cup of crinkle cut carrots

Day 5 - Totals

Calories: 554
Fat: 14 g
Carbs: 53 g
Protein: 46 g

Day 6 - Had a lot going on that night, so we ended up picking up McDonald's for dinner.  I know, monument of healthy eating there...but, you can still eat there on a diet...

1. Grilled Chicken Ranch BLT Sandwich
2. 1/2 Medium Fries

Day 6 - Totals:

Calories: 570
Fat: 20 g
Carbs: 66 g
Protein: 33 g

Day 7 - Shannon's birthday was today, my parents took the whole family out to Cracker Barrell.  I had kind've "gameplanned" for dinner out, so my lunch and breakfast were slightly less than usual.

1. 8 oz Haddock fillet, breaded and grilled
2. 0.5 cup green beans
3. 0.5 cup yellow corn
4. 0.5 cup hashbrown casserole

Day 7 - Totals:

Calories: 673
Fat: 9 g
Carbs: 95 g
Protein: 58 g

30 Days, 30 Dinners - Day 3

Ok, a true dinner tonight.  Gave Noah the pick for dinner again, he chose spaghetti.  Nothing too special I do for spaghetti.  Just cook the noodles, heat up some Chunky Garden Style Pasta Sauce from Giant, brown some ground turkey and throw it in the sauce with some extra spices, cook a vegetable, DONE!  For good measure, I made some Nature's Promise Organic European Style Garlic Bread too.

So, dinner was:
1. Spaghetti - I cook half a box, which equates out to about 6 servings, so 0.67 cup of cooked noodles
2. Sauce - 1 jar of Chunky Garden Style Pasta Sauce (with Mushrooms) with 10 ounces of 93% lean ground turkey, makes 8 servings
3. Green Beans
4. European Garlic Bread - Cut the loaf into 1/5s, but I snagged one extra piece, so 1.5 servings

Totals:

Calories: 542
Fat: 13 g
Carbs: 80 g
Protein: 24 g

30 Days, 30 Dinners - Day 2

I get to cheat a bit with this one :-)

Who says breakfast has to be in the morning?  Noah was asking for IHOP for dinner, and I hadn't had any specific meal planned, so I volunteered to make a big breakfast platter for dinner.  Had to run to the store to fill in some things I didn't have, but I had most of it already.  Cooked up some bacon for everyone else (I did snare one piece for me though), a bunch of scrambled eggs for everyone else, Bisquick Heart Healthy pancakes, and Simply Potatoes Diced Potatoes with Onion.  On the side, I made myself my "As Good As The Real Thing Sausage Eggs"...That's 1 egg, 1 serving liquid egg whites, 1 serving egg beaters, with half a serving of Jimmy Dean Turkey Sausage Crumbles thrown in, along with salt, pepper, and Old Bay (let's see how many times I use THAT in the month of April, eh?).

So, my dinner was:
1. My As Good As The Real Thing Sausage Eggs
2. 1 pancake with 0.5 serving of Sugar Free Syrup
3. 1 piece of bacon
4. 1 cup of diced potatoes

The totals...

Calories: 412
Fat: 11 g
Carbs: 49 g
Protein: 30 g

30 Days 30 Dinners - Day 1

So, for my first day of this challenge, I get to explain just what the heck happened today/tonight...

So, we were heading to Delaware today for JP's birthday party.  The drive is pretty long, so I figured that by the time I got home, there wouldn't be much time to cook, much less have the energy to do it.  So, crockpot meal FTW...I like doing crockpot meals, provided I remember to prep them the night before, or do them on a weekend.  The only problem is, I only have about 3-4 that I do well...Beef Stew, Pot Roast, Pulled Pork, and Chili.  My family doesn't eat chili, beef stew and pot roast are more Winter meals, and we just did Pulled Pork last week.  So, after perusing SparkRecipes last night, I chose a new one to try...Broccoli Cheese Chicken.  Without posting the full on recipe, basically you put chicken in the crockpot, and cover in a mixture of condensed broccoli cheese soup, milk, spices, and onion.  So, I prepped it up this morning, topped it with 1/2 cup FF shredded cheddar, turned it on, and we were on our way...

On the way back, I was telling Shannon how I made it, and in stepped curveball #1...Since the mixture is basically soup, Shannon was already not feeling it.  She's not a huge fan of soups.  I argued that we do something similar with my Chicken Stuffing Casserole, but she felt like the stuffing kind've counteracts that.  So, already, we're not feeling it.  When I got home and looked at it, I knew we were likely getting something out for dinner.  Adding the cheese on top was a bad idea, it ended up on the sides and bottom, gummed up.  Also, I forget that things that cook all day in a crockpot tend to thin out a bit.  So what was already basically soup just became even more thinned out.  And when I taste tested, I was hit with curveball #3 (#2 was the look of it)...all the spices I had added and taste tested had basically dissapeared, leaving the mixture real bland.  It had flavor, but just very much like weakened soup.

So, I caved and ordered the family some food from our local sub shop.  But, knowing I had the challenge tonight, I decided to give it a try by myself.  I went ahead and re-salted the mixture, which mostly fixed my spice issue.  I did also throw in some Old Bay...because, let's face it, I am a Baltimore Boy, tried and true, almost everything tastes better with some Old Bay (btw, the original spices featured a good portion of Old Bay as well).  I also turned the heat back on and added some corn starch slurry to try and thicken it.  Didn't do much, but just enough that I was okay with it.  The end result:  Not too bad.  It'll be worth a try again, with a few modifications.  Especially good to server it on top of rice, and throw cheese on it AFTER it cooks!

So, onto the nutritional facts, to prove that I tracked it...Best way to do this is break the dinner down into it's elements

1. Chicken - I used 10 tenders in a 1.5 lb pack.  In my dinner, I had 2.5 tenders, so 6 oz of boneless skinless chicken tenders.
2. "Sauce" - The recipe I used mixed 2 cans of 98% FF Broccoli Cheese Soup, 1.5 cups 1% Milk, onion, basil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Old Bay.  The reason I listed this seperate from the chicken is because I didn't take 1/4 of the sauce, I took more like 1/8.
3. "Rice" - I used Knorr's Rice Sides, Buffalo Chicken.  I've said before how much I love Knorr's Rice Sides.  It's not really organic or natural, but it tastes awesome.  I wouldn't really reccomend using Buffalo Chicken rice with this recipe, I'd probably stick with a more neutral kind like Vigo Yellow Rice or plain white rice, but I'm the only one who likes Buffalo Chicken rice from this family, so I have to pick my times to use it.  I ate about 3/4 cup of rice.

So, the added up totals:

Calories: 455
Fat: 5 g
Carbs: 45 g
Protein: 57 g

April Blog Challenge: 30 Days, 30 Dinners

Today marks one year of my changes.  One year of watching what I eat and making better decisions.  One year of improving my physique.  One year of living healthier.

I did not meet my goal.  My original goal was to lose 100 pounds in 1 year.  My final tally was a little over 70 pounds lost in 1 year.  Not too shabby, not my goal though.  And though my performance as an athlete has improved, I've had a number of setbacks recently which leaves me feeling like I'm starting to fall behind...

So, I need something to mark one year that I can use as a springboard.  I've done well at blogging my recipes, but often times, I either make something "from the standard pile", which means I've either blogged it before, or it's not interesting enough to document.  And I've falled behind in tracking on SparkPeople.  I still make good choices, but I'm guessing my totals, so there are days I'm sure I go above my totals, and days I go below.

So, for April, I am challenging myself....Every night, I will document what I made/ate for dinner.  For one month, I will be completely open and honest about my choices, my cooking, and my feedback.  A couple caveats/rules:

1. So, first hurdle is that during the month, we'll be in DISNEY!  So, already I have to account that I won't have the exact nutritionals for every meal.  That was bound to come up for nights where we eat out anyway.  I'm going to do my best guesswork
2. I probably won't go in and blog every night.  But, I'll do it at least two times a week and either do a summary post that combines nights, or just back date posts

Anyone intrigued?  Listening?  If you can think of other challenges, bring them at me.  The whole "blog for whatever pops into my head" idea is kind've putting this thing into the recycling bin of the internet and I'd like people to be interested in what I write about, so consider this my polling of the audience to see who's listening!