Stuck at The Starting Gate / New Recipe

Have you ever been to the horse races?? If you have, ever notice how sometimes the horse will kick, paw, and not want to go into the starting gate?....do you have a mental picture of that?...good...because that was me this week.

I had plans to really get out of the starting gate and run the race this week, and well....I was more like a lazy mare in the pasture, grazing on a warm summer day...minus the summer day....uhhh!

How embarrassing to have to admit that to myself and the world. I found myself in a funk this week, not motivated in any area. So of course I did not do my best in this race to get back into healthy eating and losing weight again. On a positive note, I did manage to eat breakfast six out of seven days, ate more vegetables than I did over the holidays, but that is about it.

January is typical a hard month for me emotionally. I seem to not do well after the holidays, and during the gloomy days of winter. I was thinking about that the other day, and it occurred to me that throwing foods that I am not supposed to be eating into that mix is certainly not helping my cause. Monday...new week....we will see how I do this week.

Goals: (1) Stay on task. (2) weather permitting, take the dogs walking at least 45 minutes (I will exercise with the dogs, they love a walk....me not so much) I hope to walk at least one day....I know better than to try for more right off the bat, remember I know myself better than anyone! (3) Pull out my diet plan and review and focus on one day at a time.

***For those who emailed me about a copy of the diet plan I am on, I did not have this loaded right in the attachment, thus the delay. I will forward this as soon as I have my son check to see if I have done this correctly....by Monday, I will have emailed you your copy...sorry about this....thanks for your patience.

Now, I want to share with you a recipe I tried a couple of weeks ago. It is a good side dish with roasted chicken or steak or shrimp, and it a healthy option to regular potatoes. The most important thing about this dish, is it is super easy, great flavor and not a lot of prep work.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

You will need: Sweet potatoes, olive oil, Old Bay seasoning, Cinnamon and Kosher salt

In a small bowl, mix 1 tablespoon of Old Bay seasoning, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and a dash of kosher salt. Mix 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil with the spices and stir well.

slice sweet potatoes into about 1 inch pieces, and put on a rimmed baking sheet. I used about 3 medium to large sweet potatoes, (recipe calls for 1 1/2 lbs)

Sprinkle olive oil/seasoning mixture over potatoes

and toss until all of the potatoes are coated well. Bake in a 450 degree oven until potatoes are deep golden brown on all sides. Bake aprox. 30-40 minutes, be sure to stir and flip potatoes half way through cooking.

There you have it, a easy side dish that is so good, it will go with many meal options. This recipe serves 4 and has 178 calories per serving.

Have a great week everyone, and thanks for keeping me on task to record this journey and trying to move forward. Encourage on another....together we can do it.