Birthday Party

This morning I woke up and saw a nice surprise on the scale:

Woo Hoo!  Only two more pounds and I can say that I've lost 70 pounds.  I am super excited to be on the back side of the 140s.  It has me very excited and now I have rearranged my whole weekend to eat healthier so that I don't shoot back up to 148 or something crazy.  I worked hard to get here and I don't want to blow it now. 

I spent most of Friday cooking and cleaning for the party.  (good thing my actual birthday isn't until Sunday or I might have been sad).  Anyway, my mom, sister, and a good friend showed up.  The other half of the people who were supposed to come bailed on me since my Grandpa had Knee surgery on Tuesday and they all decided to stay with him.  I was pretty shot down since there were four people who were supposed to come: my Grandma, two Aunts, and a family friend.  Besides that I made waaaaaaay too much food.  I am trying very hard not to be upset about it since I can understand that Grandma needs to stay with Grandpa because he just had surgery, and one of my Aunts is staying with my grandparents and the other two live very close by.  They kind of all stay in a pack so if one isn't coming, the rest won't either.  But still I can't help but feeling a little wounded.  Grandma did call later that evening and apologized so I am going to go see them all on Monday, hopefully Grandpa is feeling better by then.

I wanted to share a few recipes with you that I made for my party.  Two recipes I made that are pretty healthy are the cool veggie pizza and the Quinoa salad with mint almonds and cranberries.

The cool veggie pizza is a Pampered Chef recipe.  It is the least healthy of the two but it still has lots of veggies and I love it because you can customize it with your favorite veggies to make it exactly how you like it.  I put zucchini, tomatoes, scallions, broccoli, and carrots on mine.

Cool Veggie Pizza

Ingredients
1 package (8 ounces) refrigerated crescent rolls
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1   garlic clove, pressed
1 teaspoon dried dill weed
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
2 cups assorted fresh vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber, green or red bell pepper, tomato, green onions, mushrooms, carrot, zucchini or yellow summer squash

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Unroll crescent dough; separate into eight triangles. On Large Round Stone, arrange triangles in a circle with points in the center and wide ends toward the outside. Using lightly floured bakers roller , roll dough to a 12-inch circle, pressing seams together to seal. Bake 12-15 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove from oven; cool completely.

2. In a bowl , combine cream cheese, mayonnaise, garlic pressed with garlic press and dill weed. Season with salt and black pepper; mix well . Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over crust.

3. Prepare vegetables: slice dice and chop.  Mix together and pour on top of pizza.  Cut into squares and serve

(original recipe can be found HERE)

The second recipe is from allrecipes.com 

Quinoa Salad with Mint, Almonds, and Cranberries

Ingredients
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup quinoa
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup coarsely chopped mint leaves
1/2 cup dry-roasted almonds, unsalted
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 cup coarsely chopped kale
1/2 cup sliced carrots
1/2 cup sliced celery
1 scallion, thinly sliced
18 grape tomatoes, halved
1 lemon, juiced
1/2 tsp lemon zest
salt and black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Bring the chicken broth to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Add quinoa, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender and the liquid has been absorbed, about 13 minutes. Stir in olive oil; fluff quinoa with a fork. Set aside to cool slightly.
2. Stir mint, almonds, dried cranberries, kale, carrots, celery, scallion, grape tomatoes, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Season to taste with salt and ground black pepper.

(original recipe can be found HERE)