Is my passion for cooking making me fat?

Baked Hot Chicken Wings

My husband LOVES chicken wings and I, well, I started liking them as well.  Yes, I was not a big fan of chicken wings at first because I did not find it appealing to eat fried chicken with its skin still on. 

However, everything changed the day I asked my husband that next time he craved chicken wings to buy them raw instead of stopping by the local buffalo wings sports bar's take-out. To my surprise, the next day he came back from work with 3 lbs. of raw chicken wings. 

To my surprise and more importantly to my husband's astonishment my first

Spinach Lasagna!!

As promised, here is my spinach lasagna recipe! =)

Lasagna is my favorite food of all time... Here is a healthier, lighter and to my taste more delicious version of it.

I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves and dive right into the recipe.


INGREDIENTS:

• 8 oz Lasagna (about 10 CREAMETTE noodles)
• 16 oz fresh

Lemon-Chocolate-y Muffins!!

Hi all! It's been a while since I've visited my own blog, let alone post!! ha ha...
Here I am with a very requested recipe... I know, I know another recipe... But you'll thank me later =)



INGREDIENTS:

So to make my famous Lemon-Chocolate-y Muffins we will start by making our chocolate.

- 3 tbsp butter (softened)
- 1 cup confectioners sugar
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder (unsweetened)
- 2 to 3 tbsp half and half or whole milk or

Ravishing Cocoa, Peanut Butter Cookies!!

Here is another healthy and delicious Cookie Recipe!

Oh SOO Good!!! 

I have to confess, I have been on a strict cookie diet the past few days. Just because nothing tastes better than these babies!! All I want to have is COCOA PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES! Yes, they're that good! So good that if you don't trust yourself around cookie-deliciousness refrain from making them... ha ha

Note: I usually had a pinch of slat to all my sweet recipes but because of the salt in the peanut butter, no additional salt is needed ;)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup unsalted Butter

Delicious Oatmeal Raisins Cookies

Here is a traditional yet irreplaceable cookie recipe. It is perfect for when you're throwing a party or you can freeze the dough and bake it as needed; since this recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies. It is also very healthy and in my opinion a better alternative to the chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Ingredients:

•  1/2 Cup Butter (Or 6 Tbsp)
• 2 Eggs
• 3/4 Cup Firmly Packed Brown sugar
• 1/2 Granulated Sugar

Orange Whole Wheat Cake

Orange Whole Wheat Cake By Zineb

This is one of my favorite recipes of all time. This healthy cake can be a great breakfast on-the-go, a perfect desert or even a delicious snack on your pause-cafe! It's also the ideal concoction for your sweet cravings. In addition to how little ingredients you will need and on how easy it is to make, I encourage you to give it a try if you enjoy baking and let me know how you liked it =)

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 Fresh Eggs, 
1/3 Cup Sugar,

 1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil, 

2/3 Cup 100% Orange juice, 

How to calculate your BMR

After yesterday's weigh-in and post, I knew I had to take matters in hand and try to turn things around somehow. I didn't have a plan and didn't know from where to start. But likely, Patrick commented (thank you so much) and showed me exactly what I needed to do. He suggested I checked Bobbie's Blog Post about BMR and anticipated weight loss. I rushed to the Blog and as I was reading (and then calculating) my anger and disappointment slowly faded away and were replaced by motivation and enthusiasm. 


If you haven't read Bobbie's post (click) yet, you probably won't know what I'm talking about next. Also, I'm sure that you'll learn a couple new tricks to weight loss, so go ahead. I'll wait...

HERE ARE MY RESULTS:

After Resolution Comes Deception

I have been on this journey of Losing My Baby Weight since the second month after having my baby. It has been 8 months that I am working towards my goal and I have lost a total of 42 lbs so far.

Throughout this journey I have met so many incredibly inspiring people who share the same project of getting healthier and in a better shape. Some of them have reached their goals and succeeded to maintain it for years like @MizFitOnline. Others, I have proudly followed and saw them reach their goals and completely transform their lives and mine as they have become my personal role models and heroes like @tidbits_of_tara. And so many others are still on the path of achieving their goals and yet they have already come a long way and lost over 100 lbs like @JewliaGoulia (140+ lbs lost).

However, along with all these very strong and successful women and many others, came who I'd like to call the "resolution-ists". Or, basically all the people who made the "promise" to lose all their extra pounds on January 1st 2011 or the first Monday of the year and so on and so forth. In late December, I have seen so many people gear up and plan to start working on their goals as if the New Year would bring on some sort of magic and  miraculously transform their lives. I've seen people starting up groups and organizing how they will track their potential weight loss. Don't get me wrong. Planning is good. Hoping for a better tomorrow/ future is great. But my point is, if you don't have enough willpower and motivation to bring change to your life today before tomorrow, then you will most likely give up on yourself. Weight loss and healthy-living habits are very hard to keep up with because so many challenges are involved along the way (emotions being the hardest to manage). That's why only the most eager and motivated person will succeed.

January is not over yet and I have witnessed almost all the "resolution-ists" collapse. It's sad, but it also reminds me how acquisitive I was to start this journey. I too could have made a million excuses to postpone the weight loss. For example, having a newborn, being a first time mom, not being able to go to the gym, being sleep deprived, etc. But I didn't. My motivation of getting my body back was too important for me to put on hold.

I want you to ask yourself why and what made you start losing weight. What's your motivation and did it change along the way? Please share your answers and thoughts below.