I know there has been a lot of weight loss and goal setting talk on the blog lately (thank you all for wonderful comments on my previous post – fantastic suggestions there! I’ll let you know whether any of them work for me). I actually realized (or I should say was reminded of) something else today. I need seriously sweaty workouts in my life on a regular basis, otherwise I start getting into a funk. I’ve been going to PT for my lower back 3 times a week and while I’m technically (kind of) working out, I haven’t had that rush that I crave. I changed that today by a challenging interval run, followed by elliptical and the stairmaster. The sweat knocked the funk right out of me. I didn’t even crave dessert (even though I have one ready for the occasion)! That’s miraculous if nothing else. I’ll continue being a lot more observing of the triggers and remedies that help me be the healthiest that I can be. I hope you do the same!!

So anyways, before I got off on that tangent, I actually wanted to say that I know there has been a lot of weight loss and goal setting talk on the blog lately, but let’s not forget the food!! Delicious healthy (or healthier) food! Here are two meals I made over the past two days that I actually was craving… and I enjoyed them immensely. Neither one was the absolute healthiest it could be but it was absolutely delicious. That counts for a lot in my book!!

Filipino adobo chicken

As you can see, this is chicken drumsticks – which of course is dark meat. Dark meat has a little more fat and calories but sometimes it’s a worthy treat. That extra bit of fat also keeps it moist and flavorful. I removed the skin (before cooking) so it was actually a really good compromise between skinless white meat and dark meat with the skin.

The marinade was a mixture of soy sauce and apple vinegar and created this wonderfully salty and acidic flavor that flavored every ounce of the meat. Braising it for about 45 minutes made the meat fall off the bone tender. Yummmm

Two drumsticks were 4 Points Plus. Oh and in case you’re wondering, the pink stuff is the “red” cabbage salad I blogged about on Russian Bites. The recipe for the sour cream cabbage on the right side of the plate will be revealed on Thursday on Russian Bites as well. (I told you I’ve been busy in the kitchen!)

Last night’s dinner was pizza. I had plans to host a girls night at my place and thought it would be fun to make our own pizzas. I prepared the dough the night before and refrigerated it, took it out 45 minutes before dinner (to let it come to room temperature) and soon enough we were ready to roll. My girls night was actually cancelled last minute, but that doesn’t mean that Adam and I couldn’t enjoy some homemade pizza anyway!

o

This is the first time I actually went heavy on the cheese. It was part-skim mozzarella so it was a bit lower fat than you’d typically get at a pizza parlor but really it was about the quantity of it (probably over 1 cup on the whole thing, I didn’t measure). You see, I LOVE pizza (it’s my favorite savory “cheat food”) and the homemade kind never really satisfied my craving the way “real” pizza did. I realized it was because I always try to make it too healthy at home. This time I made it just right.

I topped it with jarred marinara sauce, part-skim mozzarella and random stuff we had in the fridge – namely fresh mushrooms, spicy peppers and leftover grilled chicken. It was almost as good as take-out and still a million times healthier and cheaper. Do you have a favorite pizza crust recipe? This one was easy and pretty good but Adam and I wanted a bit more chew.

Do you ever make dishes a little less healthy than they could be to make them feel more like a treat? I used to be either healthy all the way or pretty indulgent (when I’m eating out). I still don’t think I can ever cook with a stick of butter (I’ll let chefs do that and not tell me, lol) but I think there is something to be said about taking it up just a notch once in a while.

A few more days left to enter the Better Butter peanut butter giveaway. Get those extra entries in!!