Happy Easter!  It's that time again for an update from my husband, Matt.  We're following his journey as he tries to lead a healthy life.  If you are just joining us, you can read about his trials & tribulations so far:  

The Beginning 
Update #1
Update #2
Update #3 

We had a really nice Easter dinner today with my Grandma.  Since there were only three of us, I made a simple meal and experimented with cooking a few turkey tenderloins instead of a whole turkey breast or ham. Spoiler alert:  this was REALLY good.  I'll be posting the recipe soon.    

These past few weeks, Matt has learned some tough lessons about indulging.  As I've written many times on this blog- I don't believe in deprivation as part of a healthy lifestyle; there needs to be some room for eating foods you love.  Here are two tips Matt wanted to share with readers who may also struggle with overindulging:  

Keep splurge days to just one day:  Matt's birthday was last weekend, and we had a big BBQ slathered meal at Shakedown BBQ, followed by several beers.  That's fine for a special birthday celebration; but in retrospect Matt knows he used his birthday as an excuse to continue the unhealthy eating for several days afterwards.  

Realize your weak spots and take preventative steps:  At the beginning of Matt's journey, one of his goals was to eat his favorite treats, but not go crazy.  We know that one of Matt's weaknesses is mindlessly eating chips, cookies, or whatever "treat" he has chosen for the day, so Matt was measuring his junk food to make sure he wasn't consuming too much junk in one sitting.  The measuring slowly fell by the wayside, and Matt found himself reverting back to his old habits.  Starting to portion out chips or ice cream again is really going to help the journey get back on track.  

Matt was not happy with his progress this week, so let's all cheer him on as he continues his journey!  Here are this week's stats:  

Weight:  178.8 lbs
Waist: 36.5"
Belly:  37.5"
Chest:  41.5"       

And here is Sadie to wish everyone a happy week:          

The other day I stumbled upon an article called "Seven Foods You Think Are Healthy But Aren't."  The foods on the list didn't surprise me- I have read many articles about preservatives in our food and have tried to eliminate most (I'm not perfect!) processed food from my diet.  

The part of the article that really made me think was the intro.  It talks about author Melanie Warner, and how her mother accidentally ate some guacamole dip that Melanie had rotting in her fridge as part of an experiment.  The crazy part was- after nine months of sitting in the fridge- the guacamole showed barely any signs of being old.  And the mother didn't get sick!  Really?? 

 I know that when I use fresh avocado it starts to brown after a day, as pictured here:     

Before I really started cutting down on processed food, I used to buy guacamole dip too.  It's yummy, it's convenient, but what in the world are they putting in the guacamole dip to keep it "fresh?"  

So, for the love of avocado, use fresh!  It barely takes any time at all to whip up fresh guacamole.  Sometimes, if I don't have any other ingredients on hand, I make my "guacamole" just by mashing up an avocado and adding salt & pepper.  Other optional ingredients are:  

Lime juice
cilantro
garlic
red onion
jalapeno 
hot sauce 

And then slather it on your favorite foods, like my Chicken Enchiladas Verde:  

Or, you can just cut your avocado into chunks, like here on my Mexican Pizza:  

Adding some citrus like lime juice will help slow the browning a bit, but let's face it- we would expect any other fresh produce to brown, avocado is no exception.  This seems like a good excuse to have an extra scoop of guacamole- must eat before it spoils!   

When I saw No Meat Athlete's Southwest Caesar Salad recipe, I knew I had to make it.  Caesar Salad + spicy Mexican flavors + grilled tempeh= YUM.  I'm so glad I tried this, because it turned out great.  The only modification I made to this recipe was that I reduced the oil down to a total of 1/4 cup.  If you look at the recipe, it calls for 1/2 to 3/4 cup of oil, but that just seemed like way too much for me.  The ratio I used was 1 T to coat the croutons, 2 T in the dressing, and 1 T to fry my tempeh.    

The homemade croutons may have been the best part of the Southwest Caesar salad- crunchy, spicy, so good.  These croutons could be used in other salads too, maybe next time I'll make a double batch.  That way, I can have croutons available for workweek lunch salads without resorting to eating junky processed croutons out of a bag.      

The only downfall was that it took awhile to prep all the individual salad components, but this could just be a perception issue on my part.  When I see that I have salad on the dinner menu, I think, "Oh, salad, no cooking involved!"  But then I end up making these fancy dinner salads that have a ton of layers and flavors.  The extra time makes for some really delicious salads, but it's more like a 30 minute assembly rather than the 10 minutes I'm always expecting.  Here are a few of my other favorite fancy lettuce-based salad recipes:  

Fake Out Tuna Nicoise Salad
Beet, Feta & Tofu Salad
Global House Salad

This sandwich looks delicious, right?  It's called the "Pig Pen" and it's from Shakedown BBQ.  It's hard to find Shakedown unless you are looking: it's located near Hollywood Casino in Grantville.  We have actually tried to go to Shakedown multiple times, but due to weird situations (power outages, day before a holiday, etc.) it has been randomly closed during past attempts.  My family will remember a few trips to the casino ending in driving around Grantville looking for somewhere else to eat.    

Anyways, back to the sandwich.  My regular readers know that I rarely eat meat, but thinking about going to a BBQ place made me crave pulled pork.  The meat was tender, the BBQ sauce was delish, and having a scoop of coleslaw on top only makes things better. Matt got the crazy big 3-meat platter with ribs, pork, & brisket (pictured below)- which he loved.  We were both REALLY full afterwards.  Since I eat healthy 90% of the time, this meal was definitely part of my 10% unhealthy eating for the week.         

This avocado tahini sauce is officially a new favorite.  It is right up there with charmoula sauce when it comes to level of obsession.  I have been making Greek Chickpea Pitas a lot lately, and I was looking for something to give them a little more zing.  I got the idea for this sauce when I stumbled across this avocado tahini dressing recipe; except I knew that I wanted a thick, creamy sauce instead of a dressing.  Did I mention I'm obsessed with this?  This is one of those recipes that even my meat & potatoes loving husband, Matt, has been saying he can't get enough of.    

For those of you who are new to the idea of using tahini- I think you'll find it's a great addition to your pantry.  Tahini is just ground up sesame seeds, and it's what makes my homemade hummus so creamy and delicious.  It's not cheap- I think the jar is around $8, but it seriously lasts forever because you only use a couple spoonfuls at a time.  In my grocery store, the tahini is next to the peanut butter in the natural foods section.      

Avocado Tahini Sauce:  

Ingredients: 
1 avocado
2 T tahini 
2 T lemon juice
2 T water (or more) 
1 garlic clove
salt to taste

Cut open avocado, scoop out the flesh & spoon into your food processor.  Add all other ingredients & pulse until it forms a uniform sauce.  If the sauce is too thick for your liking, add more water until it reaches your desired texture.  I usually use 2 or 3 tablespoons of water.  Makes 4-6 servings.      

Last week when I was doing my meal planning, I was leafing through a Rachael Ray cookbook I've had for years:  Rachael Ray Express Lane Meals.  In the past I used Rachael Ray's cookbooks & recipes all the time, but ever since I cut back on eating meat I have had trouble finding things in my Rachael Ray books that appeal to me- that woman makes a LOT of chicken & burgers!  

The good news is that a many of her ideas still work, I just need to sub ingredients to make them vegetarian.  And she does have some good meat free dishes- like calzones with veggies & beans.  I didn't use her ingredient list exactly- I used whatever I had on hand.  But seeing the calzone recipe in Rachael Ray's cookbook did inspire me to actually make calzones- which turned out great!  Making these isn't that much more work than making pizza, plus then you get the fun of dipping your calzone into sauce.  It's the little things, right?  

Here is my calzone recipe for four:  

Ingredients:
1 store bought ball of whole wheat pizza dough 
1 can cannellini beans, rinsed & drained 
2 big handfuls baby spinach, chopped
1/2 cup black olives, sliced 
8 oz package mushrooms, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 cup mozerella cheese 
1 15-oz can of your favorite pizza sauce 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Heat a little olive oil in a skillet, then saute mushrooms until soft and golden brown.  Add garlic, spinach, black olives & beans, heat until spinach wilts and ingredients are incorporated.  Season to taste with pepper, and set aside.  Cut pizza dough into 4 pieces, then roll each dough piece into a circle.  Make sure to coat your hands, work surface, & rolling pin with flour so things don't stick.  Put 1/4 of the bean mixture on each piece of dough, then top with 1/4 of the cheese.  Fold the top of the dough over, then crimp the edges of the dough with a fork to seal.  Spray your baking sheet with cooking spray, then place calzones on the sheet- spraying the top with cooking spray as well.  Bake for about 20 minutes, until nice & golden brown.  Serve with heated pizza sauce on the side.  

Oh, Whole Foods, how I wish we had one of you in Harrisburg.  Until then, I can stalk your website recipes.  My stalking paid off when I stumbled upon this date bar recipe.  Each week I typically make my Workweek Granola Bars, but a girl occasionally needs some variety.  These bars were a great change of pace.     

I followed the Whole Foods Oat-Date Bar Recipe almost to the letter, but I (of course) had to add dark chocolate chips.  I cut my batch into 8 bars.  These bars were a bit more complicated than my regular granola bars since they involved some blending, so I don't see myself making these every week.  If you are new to the homemade granola bar thing:  welcome, you won't be sorry.  Here are my other favorite bar recipes to get you started:    

Workweek Granola Bars
Rachel's Pumpkin Snack Bars          

The theme of today's healthy life project update is:  this is your life; it's not something you can quit.  We continue to follow Matt's journey as he creates new healthy habits.  If you need to catch up from the beginning, here are the previous updates:  

The Beginning 
Update #1
Update #2       

The good news:  We are in the middle of a happy, healthy St. Patty's Day.  Typically, we would spend the day drinking Guinness and eating a junky lunch in a bar.  This year- we ran a 5K!  5K's are a win-win; it forces you to go out and run, plus your race entry fee goes to charity- Matt & I were happy to support Vinny's Kids.  We were also happy to follow the race with a Guinness since the calories were burned off ahead of time.

Now for the bad news:  Matt has had a rough couple of weeks and has found himself reverting back to some old unhealthy habits.  Emotional eating- check.  Skipping the gym- check.  Nobody is perfect, and we all have trouble keeping it together from time to time.  The difference this time is that since this is not a diet, there is nothing to "quit." Everybody (including me!) has setbacks & weight gain.  Sometimes the most difficult part of a healthy lifestyle is realizing that a bad week or two doesn't define you, and tomorrow is a new day.  

Matt said that to overcome his setbacks, he is going to spend the next couple weeks: 
1) Thinking of a way to deal with stress & anxiety without turning to food.  
2) Packing his gym bag in advance & setting it by the door.  
  
Here are Matt's stats for this week:
Weight:  176.8 lbs
Waist:  36.75"
Belly:  36.75"
Chest:  41"  

I LOVE stuffed peppers.  I haven't made them in awhile because I don't get my Spiral Path Farm share in the winter, and buying fresh peppers at the grocery store is ridiculously expensive.  These delicious stuffed peppers were created because my mom brought me a bag of green peppers she had acquired from her neighbor, which I think is pretty funny.  Do other people's parents bring them completely random stuff? 

I am surprised at how awesome these peppers turned out because I mainly used ingredients I had in the fridge & cupboard that I was trying to use up.  A half used bag of spinach, onion, quinoa- everything got thrown together.  These are definitely a make again.  

Click here for the recipe.  
    

When I heard about a new restaurant in Harrisburg that specialized in a melty, cheesy, tomato & egg dish, I knew I had to try it.  My husband and I went to the Tomato Pie Cafe for lunch, and I wasn't sure what to expect, but it ended up being really cute inside!  You can either order takeout or sit down and have a server bring your food & beverages.  I started with a classic latte, and decided to order the breakfast version of the tomato pie since it was served with fruit & potatoes.  My husband Matt ordered the lunch version, which came with a small green salad & a scone.  As you can see from the pic, the presentation left something to be desired- doesn't it look like a big half-empty plate?  But the tomato pie was SO good.  This was definitely my splurge meal for the week, you could taste the butter & cheese melting in your mouth.  I can't wait to go back here and try perhaps a more healthful option.