And so it begins...

Over the past couple of months, I have been doing very well with my meal planning.  I have stayed on task and on budget and have maintained a healthy lifestyle.  With that being said, I haven't lost much weight. {Insert sad face here}.  If you would see me in person, you'd say that I look pretty good.  I think I do look okay, but which I could lose a bit around the middle and on my upper inner thigh.

A few years back a friend asked me to do the "Flat Belly Diet" by Prevention with her.  I looked it up and at the time, they were giving away your first 28 days free.  I did the Flat Belly Diet with her and became her accountability partner.  Because she was a lot bigger than me, she dropped the weight quicker than I did.  I didn't want to lose a bunch of weight, but at the end of the 28 days, I ended up losing 10 lbs.  It was nice to have a flatter stomach and I felt very good about getting into a bathing suit.  I kept the weight off for a while.  Summer came and went, but the fall came in with a vengeance.  I got busy with being softball mom and business and let's not forget about the holidays and holiday food!  That was almost 3 years ago. I have gained my 10 pounds back and every now and then, he likes to invite over a few more "friends" to the party.

Since I have been doing well with my meal plans and I have been more active, I decided that I will once again try this diet for 28 days to "jumpstart" some sort of weight loss for me.

Since I have decided to go through with this kind of late, I will not have a meal plan to put out this week.  I have to go through my pantry and figure out what I can make for dinner next week.  I'll be posting my Flat Belly Diet meals for the following week.  If you are interested in doing the 28 days with me, please let me know. I'd like to know how everything works for you.

Weekly Menu : 2/24 to 3/01

 

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This week we'll be eating Mexican style!  My family loves Mexican food and for the most part, it's fairly light and healthy option for me.  Here's our meal plan for next week!
 

Mon - Fajita Style Quesadillas + Spanish Rice
Tues - Taco Chicken Salad
Wed - Eat out! Lots of stuff going on this day.  Won't have time to cook.
Thur - Bean and Beef Burritos + Lettuce and Tomato Salad
Fri -    Shrimp Tacos + Black bean salad
Sat -   Eat out!

Thin Crispy Pizza Dough Recipe

I am in love with this Margherita Pizza recipe I found online last weekend.  I am very skeptical when it comes to pizza dough. I haven't had much luck with finding a recipe that truely makes a flat pizza.  A lot of dough would say to stretch the dough out, but I've always found that my dough was very elastic, I'd stretch it to the right and it would bounce back as I was stretching it to the left. This dough was super quick and easy.  Because I am terrible at reading ahead, I didn't make this 24 hours to 3 days ahead.  I made this the same day and just let it "rise" as my oven was warming up. 

The original recipe found here, says to mix then put in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours, but if you can make it and store it for 3 days, it's even better when it has more time to "proof".  After a day or 3 in the frig the dough rises a little, but not much.

I purchased a pizza stone last year after I read many posts about it helping to make a nice crisp pizza. 

Here is the recipe that I used for Wednesday night's dinner.


Nice, Thin Crispy Pizza Dough Recipe
Adapted from Eat Yourself Skinny

Ingredients:

• 1/2 tsp. active dry or instant yeast
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder (*optional)
• 1/2 dried basil or oregano (*optional)
• 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Instructions:

1. Sprinkle yeast over warm water. 
2. In your stand mixer using the hook attachment, combine the flour, salt, garlic powder and dried basil or oregano, if using.  Scrap the flour down the sides of the bowl.
3. On a slow speed, drizzle in the olive oil until just combined with the flour.
4. Next pour in the yeast/water mixture and mix until just combined. 
5. When the dough has formed a ball on the hook,, take the ball off the hook and form back into a ball.
6. Coat a separate bowl with a touch of olive oil and place your ball of dough into the bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and store in fridge until ready to use, at least 24 hours in advance.
7. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F. 
8. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray (or utilize a pizza stone if you have one) and get a bit of flour on your hands.
9. Start working your dough and stretch it into a long rectangle on your baking sheet, pressing with your fingers to finish forming. Your dough should be very thin. 
10. Top it with your favorite sauce, cheese and toppings

 
* Pizza dough is basically just salt and flour.  I like to add in a bit of garlic and some dried herbs for a bit more flavor. 
 
Printable Recipe