A Meatless Burger? Is That Even a Burger?

I'll be honest, I love meat. And one of my favorites is a big, juicy, grilled burger...with all the fixin's. Mmmm, burger. I'm salivating at the thought. But in an effort to change our diet and consume less red meat, I decided to give Portobello burgers a shot. I had watched a segment of Rachel Ray and she made this meatless wonder. It looked really good. I finally tried my hand at making it on my own while trying to pack in as much nutrition and taste as I could. I really enjoyed them, my hubby on the other hand could not get past the texture. He was waiting for that "meat" and it wasn't there. I am, however, extremely thankful that he was on board enough to give it a try.

What You'll Need:

• Portobello mushrooms (remove stem, rinse cap and lay on paper towel to dry)
  
• Whole grain rolls (I used Arnold's 100% whole grain sandwich thins)
• Roasted red peppers
• Pesto spread
• Sliced mozzarella
• Sea salt and fresh ground pepper

Coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray and arrange portobellas bottom up. Brush on extra virgin olive oil and season with sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Bake at 350 until softened but still firm in the center.



Spread each side of the sandwich thin with the pesto spread and arrange the roasted red peppers.

When portobellas are done, cover with mozzarella and let cheese melt.

Put top of roll on and enjoy. I served mine with an alternative to french fries...sweet potato fries. This time they didn't come out quite as crispy as I would have liked, but we will give it another try.

I truly did enjoy my meatless burger and my french fryless french fries. I felt good about the healthy choices I made. But it will ever take the place of a good grilled burger

 

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The Beginning of a Journey

It isn't just enough to realize that you have to change the way you eat and live, you have to take action. If you don't take action, you will never get from where you are to where you need/want to be.

 

Eating healthy is certainly a huge part of changing your lifestyle and your health. So, yesterday, armed with information from my book, I hit the grocery store determined to make the best possible food choices I could. I used everything that I learned so far (and I'm sure there's much more) and created a menu for the week accounting for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. I was pretty satisfied with my choices. I tried to make every food I included in my meal to serve a purpose. I made every effort to maximize the nutritional value and get as much of my daily requirements as I could.

 

I'm super excited to try some new food combinations and share them all with you. I'm also excited to share all the things I learn while taking this journey. I hope that by making a pledge to take charge of mine and my family's health, I can inspire you to do the same.

 

While eating a healthier diet is a great start to transforming your health, sometimes it just isn't enough; you need physical activity. I'm am the worst at exercising. I've had a gym membership for years and will be the first to admit, I don't go. Working full time and being a wife and mom, take up the majority of my time. It's time that I happily sacrifice. But those sacrifices are starting to build up and I'm becoming unhealthy because of it. And in order for me to continue to take care of them, I HAVE TO take care of me too. If I want to carry another child, I have to be healthy and help my body be strong enough to sustain a healthy pregnancy.

 

I wanted to start this journey on the right foot, so I did, literally. My hubby went for his blood work today and after he sent me a text with his weight, which is now less than mine, I decided now was a good time as any to get out there and start moving. I threw on my new pair of running shoes, grabbed Brandon and the stroller and off we went. I lapped our complex 3 times. Not sure of the distance (I'll clock it later with the odometer). I realized during that walk just how out of shape I am. I was sweating, I was winded and my legs felt like jello. But I did it!! I took that first step. It felt great!

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Taking Charge of Health

A few weeks ago, my husband and I started having a serious conversation about expanding our family and having another child. We explored everything; potential financial implications, employment or lack thereof, ways to gain income other than our 9-5 jobs to help build a nest egg and even when the ideal time to get pregnant was so I didn't have to go through the heat of the summer. We know this is pretty beyond our control, but we're planners...down to the nitty gitty planners. Heck, we even came up with a plan to buy a house. We left no stone unturned, or so we thought. Ultimately, we were satisfied that we thought it through enough and that now was a good a time as any.

 

Then, as if my body screamed out in protest, I broke out in a rash that was in many ways similar to the rash I had when I was pregnant with our son. It was an awful rash, the kind of itch that is so deeply embedded in your skin, you could literally tear your skin open just trying to get to it. This rash had all the makings of that, but I knew I wasn't pregnant. I had an appointment with my OB/GYN anyway to make sure all my parts were working and there was nothing we should worry about. All clear...except the rash. I started a 6 day prednisone pack and away the rash went. Until a week later, it was back. Now I started to get concerned and made an appointment with my primary doctor. She started me on an 18 day high dose prednisone regime. It's been fine since, however, I stop taking the prednisone Saturday and I pray it doesn't come back. Because until we figure this out, our baby plans are stalled.

 

In another week, we'll draw blood and test for everything and anything under the sun. If we don;t find anything there, off to the allergist I go...if it comes back.

 

One thing we didn't discuss was health. Were we healthy enough to attempt pregnancy again? I will be the first to admit that when we tried for our son, we definitely didn't take the proper steps to ensure our health and the health of the pregnancy before hand. I was overweight, a smoker and didn't exercise regularly. I ate all the wrong foods at all the wrong times, my body was not equipped to handle the stress of a pregnancy. But surprisingly enough, we got pregnant pretty easily.

 

This started to get me super focused on improving my families health and the health of our future little one. First on the chopping block...our diet. A few months ago I tried a shake diet. the shakes were really good, and there were so many different ones to create, but after a while I grew bored with it. I love food, and I love variety and texture. Shakes were not it. I did drop a few pounds and that made me motivated to find healthy options for the things that I like to eat...not drink. I really just made the best possible choices with the information that I had until I discovered the Drop 10 Diet. What drew me to this diet was the customizable nature of it. You customize it to your tastes and schedule. The object is to arm you with the information you need to make your own healthy living choices. So, it really isn't a diet, it's a behavior change. THAT I can do!!

 

It's really exciting to start on the journey to healthy living and taking control of my families health.

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