Technically this…

Plus this…

Should not equal this…

(which is down 2 pounds from my weigh in last week of 179). I did a horrible job on my Weight Watchers points this week, but made up for it with keeping up with my exercising. Even got up at 6am on Saturday to exercise… I purposely got out of my very warm, comfortable bed on a weekend to exercise. Not sure what kind of crazy got in me, but I’m glad it did. I actually even enjoyed it and it was a great start to my weekend!

The topic of Eat.Live.Be this week is “Your Biggest Challenge”. I am like so many others and can answer this with great ease. The biggest challenge I have in fulfilling my wish for a healthy lifestyle is… me. No one else. I have a very difficult time with the “all or nothing” mentality I talked about last week. If I mess up in the morning, I throw in the towel for the whole day because that’s how I am. I am that way in so many aspects of my life and it is something I am working desperately hard to overcome! Check out the list of Eat.Live.Be Bloggers at the bottom of this post to see how they are doing on our healthy lifestyle initiative. There are some really great, thought provoking posts.

Now, in the meantime, I’m going to share this Chocolate Malt Krispie Bar recipe with you. I made this for our Happiness Project group last week. It was quick to put together and different enough to get everyones attention. On top of that, I love malt (if you couldn’t tell from my Triple Chocolate Malt bread from yesterday) so these are pretty darn tasty! Enjoy (but in moderation… remember we are trying to be healthy around here!)

Recipe: Chocolate Malt Krispie Bars (from Taste of Home)

• 4 cups malted milk balls, divided
• 1 package (10 ounces) large marshmallows
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 5 cups crisp rice cereal
• 1 cup malted milk powder, divided
• 2 cups (12 ounces) HERSHEY’®S Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

1. Chop 1 cup malted milk balls; set aside. In a Dutch oven, combine marshmallows and butter. Cook and stir over medium-low heat until melted. Remove from the heat; stir in the cereal, 3/4 cup malt powder and chopped candy. Press into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. pan.
2. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt chocolate chips; stir until smooth. Stir in remaining malt powder. Spread over cereal bars. Top with remaining malted milk balls. Let stand until set. Cut into squares. Yield: 2 dozen.

Eat.Live.Be. Bloggers:

• Sarah Caron from Sarah’s Cucina Bella
• Joanne from Eats Well with Others
• Maris Callahan – In Good Taste
• Chris Arpante – Melecotte
• Faith – Blog Appetit
• Kristen - Dine and Dish
• Jenna – Stop, Drop and Blog
• Casey – The Starnes Family
• Patsy – Family, Friends and Food
• Tri-Fit Mom
• Claire – Cooking is Medicine
• Allison – Sweet Flours
• Jen – NJ Epicurean
• Leslie – The Hungry Housewife
• Rivki Locker – Healthy Eating for Ordinary People
• Claudia – Journey of an Italian Cook
• Jennifer Schulz – Lick-a-Plate
• Sarah Rogers – Sarah’s Sweet Creations
• Denise and Lenny – Chez Us

I’m going to just get right to business here. The scale was not so nice to me this past Monday for weigh in, and after some of my behavior from this past week, I wouldn’t expect it to be.

I knew when I first posted my weight on my blog, it would be hard putting it all out there. I do have to tell you though, what is even harder is coming back to you all, merely two weeks later, and saying I flubbed up. I had a somewhat stressful week, and like I do when I’m stressed, I ate. In fact, if you can jump in here and make me feel a little better by at least admitting that my logic is somewhat typical, I’d appreciate it. Here’s the deal…

I had a weak moment at the grocery store this past Tuesday and purchased a bag of Cookies & Cream Hershey’s Kisses. On Wednesday, I opened up the package and had one little kiss. Then I had two… then I had three, four and five. Finally, I realized that I cannot trust myself to have Cookies & Cream Hershey’s Kisses in my house and since I had already screwed up, I decided I’d better get rid of the Hershey’s Kisses. So, I did what any sane person trying to watch their weight would do. I spent the day eating the WHOLE package of Hershey’s Kisses!! I mean, if I was going to screw up, I might as well just go all out in one day, get rid of temptation all together so that the rest of the week those Hershey’s Kisses wouldn’t be calling my name. Great logic, right?

So, I’m back on the wagon again. Thank goodness I’ve been keeping up on my exercise as that is the one and only thing that kept the scale from tipping even further up! This week, so far so good and I plan to keep it that way. Hopefully you’ll hear cheers from me next Monday as I step on the scale again. For anyone keeping track, I am up .9 from 178.1 last week, which isn’t horrible, but still… My Eat. Live. Be friends did much better than I did this week! Make sure to check out the Eat. Live. Be Facebook page to see their updates.

Finally, I promised you all this wouldn’t turn into a diet blog, so because of that I’m going to go to extremes and share with you a recipe that convinced me to go out and buy a deep fryer. I’ve never owned a deep fryer, but after Rachelle from the blog “Mommy? I’m Hungry” shared with me on the Dine & Dish Facebook page that her favorite fish taco recipe was this one from Recipe Girl, I knew I had to try it. And try it, I did… 5 times since the first time in mid-December. I haven’t had it since joining Weight Watchers, but I think I’m going to have to build in a splurge day sometime in the next month to have these again… they are so good! Head over to Recipe Girl’s site to find the recipe for Beer Battered Fish Tacos with Creamy Baja Sauce. If you are looking for a good All Purpose Mexican Seasoning recipe to use for her delicious Fish Tacos, this is the recipe Rachelle turned me onto for that as well. Enjoy!

Recipe: All Purpose Mexican Seasoning (for use in tacos, fajitas, etc from About.com)

• 1/4 cup dried oregano
• 3 tablespoons dried chile powder
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 pinch ground cloves
• 1 pinch ground cinnamon

1. Mix together ingredients thoroughly and store in an airtight container.

One of my very first posts many moons ago on Dine & Dish was about how I don’t “do” snow. I’m not a fan. I think it’s pretty and all, but I’d rather sit in by the fire, snuggled up with a good book, looking out on it falling gently on the trees rather than being outside with the snow falling on me.

That attitude was the old me. After a phone conversation last night with my friend DeAnn as we were discussing our personal Happiness Projects, it kind of hit me that I have one chance at this life I’ve been given. As much as I hope I can be reincarnated someday as a Glee cast member, I have to be mindful that as far as I know, today is my one and only chance to live today. I have one chance to be the best mom I can be to my kids… to make the most of the memories and days we have together.

So today, outside of my normal snow hating character, I got bundled up with the kids and we headed outside into the most beautiful Kansas snowfall I have seen in a very long time. And not just once… twice I did this! For hours at a time! We had a fantastic time, I shoveled our driveway and sidewalk with the help of a good friend, and then we all came inside to warm up with hot chocolate. Picture perfect, memory making kind of day… and had I not stepped out of my old self and into my new self, I would have totally missed out on being present with my kids during such a fun time.

Part of my Happiness Project is to focus on being present, and with that comes me actively being a part of my family’s life. Not just sitting on the sidelines, but jumping in, getting off my butt, and being among their chaos.

This is also part of my Eat. Live. Be. initiative. You all were so fantastic last week with my nakedness and I hated to think of letting you down. Each time I almost flubbed on my Weight Watchers points, your positive comments came into my head and I got myself in control… most of the time. I had some slip ups but I also did a pretty darn good job of keeping on track. I exercised every day, which for me is unheard of. I drank a ton of water, which again… I’m the Diet Dr Pepper queen, so this is a huge improvement. Most importantly, I was present and mindful of what I was putting into my body and attempted to stay clear of mindless eating. Thank YOU for supporting me, watching me and helping me along this journey!  (I’m down 2.8 pounds this week from 180.9 to 178.1!)

Finally, I made the most delicious roast chicken, adapted from a recipe in the January 2011 issue of Martha Stewart Living Magazine. Served over a salad of mixed greens and Honey Mustard Vinaigrette Salad Dressing (still a fave of ours), this chicken made me feel like I was “cheating”, it was truly that delicious. An added bonus it that this one chicken was able to be stretched into multiple meals. Gotta love that! (Oh – and ignore the extra black roasted crispies and potatoes on the cookie sheet…. we kind of like our roasted potatoes well done around here!)

Hope you all had a great week! Can’t wait to read your updates.

Recipe: Crisp-Skinned Chicken with Roasted Potatoes (Adapted from Martha Stewart Living Magazine, Jan 2011)

• 6 redpotatoes, quartered
• Coarse salt
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 whole chicken (about 4 1/2 pounds)
• 2 tablespoon butter, softened
• 3 cloves garlic, minced

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cook potatoes in salted boiling water until tender, 11 to 13 minutes. Drain. Return potatoes to pot, and shake over low heat to dry and fluff. Coat with oil, and season with salt.
2. Mix together 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and the cornstarch (this was new to me, and really made a huge difference in the flavor and crispness of the chicken!). Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Combine minced garlic and softened butter. Rub skin with butter, and season with salt mixture. Rub the inside of the cavity as well.
3. Place chicken, breast side up on sprayed baking sheet and tuck wings under. Tie legs together with kitchen twine. Scatter potatoes around chicken. Roast for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, and flip potatoes. Return to oven, rotating sheet. Roast until chicken juices run clear and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of a thigh reaches 165 degrees, about 30 minutes more. Let chicken rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Naked in Times Square. That is exactly how I am going to feel after sharing this number with you, but I’ve got to. I am horrible about keeping myself accountable so I am putting this big old number out there for all of you to see, and I am going to continue to do it each Monday until I am totally on track to where I want to be. So, here we go….

That, my friends, is what my lovely scale told me I weighed this morning. 180.9. Why am I sharing this with you? Because, at 5’9″, I don’t quite weigh enough to be on The Biggest Loser, but I think that putting this terrifying number out to the World Wide Web each week will give me the same kind of motivation and accountability as those brave folks who step on the scale each week on national television. I am that desperate… I need to make some progress and I need to get my rear in gear.

I’ve joined a group of bloggers who will be participating in a healthy living initiative called Eat. Live. Be. Each Monday, we will be sharing with our readers how we’ve come on our goals, plus discuss a different healthy living topic that has been assigned to us. Does this mean that Dine & Dish is turning into a healthy living, diet food blog? Heck no! I know myself well enough to know that diets, in the most traditional of terms, do not work for me. I will be following Weight Watchers, which I’ve been successful with in the past, and really focusing on making / eating the same food but not gorging on it. Portion Control is going to be key for me in order to see that number move down.

I also need to force myself to become more active on a daily basis. Walking, using our elliptical, Wii Just Dance 2 and Wii Zumba… those are all things that I enjoy doing. I just need to make it a priority to carve out the time.

So, in short… my long term goal is to lose 25 pounds, taking me down to 155 and to move for at least 30 minutes each day. I will do this by sharing my progress with you all weekly, keeping a food diary, and following the Weight Watchers Points system.

If you are interested in learning more about Eat. Live. Be and joining in on the initiative, head over to their Facebook page and check it out. You can also check out the other bloggers participating below.

• Sarah – Sarah’s Cucina Bella
• Cate – Sweetnicks
• Maris – In Good Taste
• Chris – Mele Cotte
• Faith – Blog Appetit
• Kristen – Dine & Dish
• Emily – Three Boys and a Little Lady
• Jenna – FireMom
• Joanne – Eats Well With Others
• Casey – The Starnes Family
• Tri-Fit Mom -Trying to be Fit Mom
• Claire – Cooking is Medicine
• Allison - Sweet Flours
• Jen - NJ Epicurean