I am glad you all enjoyed the stray kitty post yesterday. If any of you end up with kitties, don’t blame me!! 😀
Wednesday is usually Bagel Day, right? Not today. Got up and it was snowing steadily and the roads were sloppy.
So, we decided to stay home. I made up some pumpkin oat bran.
Then worked for a while before going out and shoveling. It was actually supposed to taper off in the late morning, but pretty much snowed all day. Way to go Weather Channel! 
I had a small snack after shoveling of half a protein bar.
Anyway, today was official weigh-in day. Marylou showed me some love and I was down today! Finally. First scale movement of the year. I didn’t change anything except for 1 thing. You know I have been trying to wrack my brain about how to find some way to stand while doing transcription. I have tried sitting on a balance ball, which didn’t seem to make much difference as I braced myself to be absolutely still. (I have to be still to do all the typing). I tried standing, but it is too hard to work the foot pedal for my audio while standing. It also made me stand tilted and bothered my hips and back. Well, I figured if I can’t do something *while* I am working, I can do it when I am not working. I am standing in the evening while watching TV or playing my Playstation games or even Kindle reading instead of sitting on the couch. I have been getting an hour to an hour and a half of standing in each day this week and maybe that little bit made the difference. D’uh! Such a simple solution and I just needed to approach it a different way.
Lunch today was some greek yogurt with apple cranberry topping – plus about a tablespoon of granola. It kind of looks like dessert, doesn’t it?
Packed full of protein, though!
I also tried out my new mug I got for Christmas. My in-laws gave this to me and it is so cute – and perfect for a latte.
It’s an owl, if you can’t tell. It’s so cute!
We made another crock pot meal for dinner. I did this at Christmas and it was so good we made it again. Crockpot Ziti! If you have a 4 quart or smaller crockpot, use this amount. If you have a larger crock pot – double the ingredients or it won’t cook right.
- 8 ounces of ground turkey
- One 25 ounce jar of pasta sauce of choice
- 7.5 ounces of part-skim ricotta cheese
- 2 ounces of part-skim mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
- 8 ounces of uncooked ziti (we used whole grain)
- 1 ounce of shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (for topping).
In a sauce pan, brown the turkey until it is no longer pink. Add the whole jar of pasta sauce to this and remove from heat.
In a small bowl, mix together the ricotta, parmesan and the 2 ounces of mozzarella cheese.
Spray the liner of your slow cooker with cooking spray. Add a few spoonfuls of sauce to the bottom of the pot. Add half of the pasta on top of that, spread evenly. Next take half of the cheese mixture and drop it by spoonfuls on top of the pasta. Spread it a little bit if you can. Then add about half of the sauce on top of this. Top that sauce with the rest of the pasta, then the rest of the cheese mixture (trying to spread it). Top with all of the remaining sauce. Make sure no pasta is sticking up or it won’t cook. Then turn the crock pot to low and cook for 3.5 to 4 hours. If you double the batch, it will need 4 to 4.5 hours. Check the pasta for doneness and it is done and you aren’t ready to eat, turn the cooker to warm so you don’t burn the pasta. When ready to serve, sprinkle the last ounce of mozzarella on top and let it melt for about 5 minutes.
I still cannot believe that dry pasta will cook this way! It is sooooo good, too. This makes 4 very large servings of approximately 475 calories. I don’t want to give a concrete calorie count on this because it will depend a lot on the type of sauce you use. Ours had 70 calories per serving (the jar has 6 servings). Plus the pasta can vary a bit as well. I need to try this with a gluten free pasta and see how it comes out. It’s very filling, too.
Love the snow picture. Easy for me to say, right?? I’m going to try that ziti recipe as soon as I get home. Looks delicious and that’s my idea of cold weather comfort food. I have a crock pot here, but am afriad I’d eat the whole thing! Better wait till Bill is there to share it.
Yum yum! All your food looks good to me today! I’ve made lasagna without cooking the noodles too.
That apple thing looks so good. I probably would eat it as dessert. (And love your owl cup!)
Would love to see how it turns out Gluten Free. I think a corn pasta might be hearty enough. We have a GF member in the family and can get reasonably priced corn pasta from Trader Joes. I’ll let you know if I beat you too it! 😉 Thanks for the great blog. Can’t wait for the Healthy Heart challenge in a month.
The owl mug is super cute. 🙂
The crockpot ziti kinda sounds like lasagna – bizarre that dry pasta can cook like that, though! Yum.
Congrats on the Mary Lou love. ‘Bout time that chick was nice to you!
Do you fidget??? You know tap your foot….jiggle your leg while sitting…drum your fingers??? I heard people that
fidget burn more calories…..hmmmmm…Looks yummy ! Love me some ziti! Hugs! deb
OKAY
apparently in my new coooler home I have no excuse fer not crock pot’ing.
Im in 🙂
I’ve been sitting WAY too much lately, surfing the web and FB’ing. It doesn’t help my base calorie burn nor my knees!
The pasta looks delicious!
I never thought about standing more… When I am back to working at home, I have thought about building a treadmill desk. I bet that would make a difference! Cute owl mug. Owls seem to be very popular right now. I must try that recipe!
Glad to hear that Marylou finally got her act together! That mug is adorable and a nice way to get a smile during your afternoon break, huh? I need to try this method for ziti next time I make it – what a great idea.
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR but pretty! 🙂 Sorry no bagel. I have been craving one lately! 🙂 Love the owl mug though!
When I had a back issue quite a while back, I had to stand a lot & I lost a little bit of weight too. I bet some of it is your food though & it just takes to to show up on the scale….
Love the recipe even though I can’t do cheese & not a pasta fan – it still looks yum! 🙂
Ben would LOVE that ziti!!
I sit at work from 6:30am until 4pm. That’s a lot of sitting. What I’ll do is make sure I get up every 30-60 min and take a quick walk down the hallway to get the blood moving. If you’re at home I’d suggest a quick dash up the stairs and back. You’ll get your heart rate up quick and then it can be working for you while you sit. GREAT job on the loss!! You are stronger than I – I need to be able to see the number on the scale 🙂
I’ll have to try that for me and my SIL next week – have you added veggies to the crock pot?? Sadly, my husband isn’t much of a fan of red sauce, and he’s Italian!
Ooh, I love a good crockpot recipe and I have never tried pasta in mine before. Will be making this soon! Thanks for sharing!!
Yay for the standing and the scale love. Speaking of LOVE, I’m a little in love with your new owl mug. It’s a hoot! OMG…I did NOT write that!! 🙂 Happy Thursday Lori.
Ooh, I wish I would have had a way to sit back when I did transcription – I used to get so sore. My mother-in-law was a telephone operator and they had a standing station, to give them a break from sitting.
Mmmm that pasta dish looks so good Lori. I had no idea uncooked pasts would cook like that in the slow cooker. Glad you had happy news on the scale this week. What a difference standing over sitting makes – it’s really all those little things that add up.
I love your mug!!! (Cutie owl lower here…) 😀
The recipe sounds yummy!! I might have to try that. I’m always looking for recipes I can leave cooking while we’re at church on Sunday mornings.
I’m happy for you that Mary Lou finally was good for you. i can’t imagine watching tv or read standing. I have a desk job too and if I have someone to ask something I walk to their desk instead of the phone or email. Try to get some moving in during the day this way.
We have about the same amount of snow here.
Yaaay for scale love!
I’m a fidgeter by nature, for which I’m grateful even though it interferes with attending concerts or going to the movies. I’m good for about 30 minutes max! 🙂
I’ll be sharing a pasta recipe next week (not fish noodles), and I can only hope it looks as tasty as yours! 🙂
Love the owl mug 🙂
When I work I’m always on my feet but when I’m home …… I sit on my butt a lot!