Ramen with Shrimp and Vegetables

It's been one wild and crazy ride here in my house. Lots of long distance traveling (which is made even longer by having a 6 month old with ya) and just lots of events going on. All this while, I'm trying desperatly to stay on my life change plan. Eh...it didn't go so well while we were traveling, but now that I'm back and our traveling is pretty much done for awhile (save for an anniversary get away this weekend) I've gotten back into the habit of things.

After doing some thinking and looking over some stuff, I've decided that I needed to bump my calorie count down from 1480 a day to 1200. I'm not going to freak out if I go a little bit over, but I think this will really help me lose weight. My goal is to lose 2 pounds a week, but if I'm over, that's awesome; if I'm under, oh well, a loss is a loss.

So, while I'm dealing with all this craziness, I'm also trying to find fast foods I can cook which are (somewhat) healthy for me. I came across this recipe in one of my cookbooks and thought I would give it a try. I'm usually not a huge ramen fan, but this tasted really good. More after the recipe!

Ingredients

• 1 lb uncooked peeled deveined medium shrimp, thawed if frozen and tails peeled.
• 2 cups water
• 1 package (3 oz) Oriental-flavor ramen noodle soup mix
• 1 bag (1 lb) fresh stir-fry vegetables
• 1/4 cup stir-fry sauce

Directions

• Heat 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook shrimp in skillet 2 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until pink and firm. Remove shrimp from skillet; keep warm.
• Heat water to boiling in same skillet. Break up noodles from soup mix into water; stir until slightly softened. Stir in vegetables.
• Heat to boiling. Boil 4 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are crisp-tender. Stir in seasoning packet from soup mix and stir-fry sauce. Cook 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently, until hot. Stir in shrimp.

Soon after this picture was taken, this bowl was empty

My Take

All in all, I loved this recipe. It's quick and easy to do, and, maybe for the shrimp, you may have everything on hand. There were a few things I changed, but they were very minor, and probably didn't change the taste of it too much.

First of all, I didn't read the ingredients carefully when I went shopping so I bought pre-cooked shrimp. It wasn't that big of a deal, though. I just heated them up in the skillet and took off the tails. It might make it a bit quicker, but just make sure you don't cook them for too long.

Secondly, I already had some frozen asparagus stir-fry in the freezer, so I used that and just cooked it the same. It had some little noodles in it as well, but I didn't mind as I felt that there was a lot of shrimp and it needed more noodles any ways. I think it had to cook for a little bit longer, but it wasn't terribly long.

Also, I didn't have any stir-fry sauce (didn't even know there was such a thing) so instead I added a little bit of soy sauce and a few sprinkles of sesame seed oil. I didn't want to add too much, because I didn't want to overpower the taste from the seasoning packet. 

This recipe makes 4 servings, but since it was all I was eating, I ate 2 servings at a time. Each serving is 210 calories with 4 grams of fat. Pretty cook for a quick, yummy, Asian meal. This will definitely be on my "make again" list.

Until next time, kiddos: Eat healthy, Exercise, and Have Fun!

Getting Into Shape

Since it has been over 6 weeks since I had Lucy, I got the go-ahead from my doctor to pretty much do anything (yay!). So, with that in mind, I'm going to try my darned hardest to get into shape. I'm not going to say "get back into shape" 'cause, well, honestly, I haven't been in shape since I was a kid. Unless you count round. Round is a shape, right?

Moving on from horrible jokes....

I would love to lose 60 pounds. I understand that is going to take a long time. For me, it's not a matter of looking pretty or being able to fit in certain clothes. Those are nice, but I have to do this for my health. I am at severely high risk for diabetes and heart disease (both run in my family. Yay...?) Technically, I'm obese. I know I don't look it. I hide my fat well. But it's true.

So, the time has come for me to shed all this excess baggage and start down a healthier road. It's going to be hard as Dylan and I have such different needs regarding food. He needs a high-calorie, high-protein diet because of his manual labor job. I, on the other hand, do not need all those calories.

This is going to be difficult. Dylan and I love pizza. We have it at least once a week in some form or fashion. But I must resist (Dyl actually made a frozen pizza last night and I'm sure there are leftovers....) I must be strong. I must stand my ground, and fight against the calories which come my way.

I threw myself under the food bus by making brownies last night. Baaaaad move....

An online tool which I'm hoping will help me is called the Super Tracker. It's actually put out by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Not only does it show you how many portions a day, but I can track my food intake and my physical activities. It also gives me a personalized plan showing me how many calories a day I'm suppose to eat, taking into account me trying to lose weight as well as the fact that I'm breastfeeding. It's really nice, and I'm hoping that by having to track everything, it'll keep me accountable.

Yesterday was my first day of tracking everything. It was a so-so day. I learned that I eat a ton of empty calories and I barely eat any dairy. I also went over my limit of sodium as well. Not good. Today I'm hoping to get a bit better.

Sidenote: Soda is definitely out. Drank a can of root beer yesterday. Had 152 calories in the whole thing. Empty calories? 150. Eww.....

So, in addition to the recipes and random stuff about babies I put up from time to time, I also am going to share my weight loss journey with you. If you, too, are wanting to lose weight, I invite you to join me in this life-changing experience. I'm not planning to go on a "diet". Rather, I'm wanting to have a life change; change the way I view food.

So let's share our ups and downs. Share tips and ways you've found to combat the evil fat monster. As Red once said, "Remember, I'm pulling for you. We're all in this together."