well hello again!

Two months.  8 weeks.  56 days.  

That's how long it's been since I felt like blogging.  

That's how long it's been since I let myself slide off track.  

That's how long it's taken me to gain 4.8 pounds.  

That's how long it's been since I think I gave a damn.  

Well I'm giving a damn again.  

Not because of the new year's resolutions, because those things are junk and I know it.  

Not because the holidays are over, although I did manage to give myself free reign and it got ugly.  

Not because of anything anyone else said to me.  

I'm giving a damn again because I need to.  

I need to because I miss the way it felt to be getting in better shape.  

I need to because I miss the way people smiled at me when they hadn't seen me for a few months.  

I need to because I miss the way that old clothes became new again.  

I need to because I have invested quite a bit of money in a new bicycle, loads of new workout clothing, and some home exercise gear throughout 2012 and I cannot let that go to waste.  

I need to because I don't feel right without taking care of myself.  

I need to because I need to be in control of something, even if some days I can only control the amount of water I drink or that I ate fruit with every bite of a guilt laden snack option.  

I cannot wait for January 1st to come back and begin taking care of myself.  I especially cannot wait until my meetings resume on January 8th to start acting like a Weight Watcher again.  I cannot delay signing up for my beloved spin classes until after the supposed "New Year's Resolution" rush dies down.  

So I've made a few small changes, but I hope they have a large impact.  Here's where I'm starting:

1.  I logged in to the Weight Watchers main site and I changed my weigh in day to Friday.  

This was completely personal, and I'm not saying everyone has to do it.  I only did it because for the past 14 months I've had my weigh in day on Tuesday which means that I would fall into the following bad habit: I would track on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday but on Friday and Saturday I would consume so much junk that I'd give up tracking on Sunday and Monday and just tell myself I'd start over on the following Tuesday.  This did not work well.  Let me rephrase that, this did not work at all.  

2.  I updated my Weight Watchers application on my phone.  

If you haven't done this yet, go do it.  Don't pass go, don't collect two hundred dollars.  Go update your app.  Now.  There are so many more features now on the program and I want to take advantage of every single one of them.  I want you to take advantage of it too!  The points program hasn't changed and neither have the good health guidelines, but the good people of WW have added a ton of new mental diversions and though process changing tools that I am really optimistic about.  I want to see if they work, because I know the points plus already does and anything on top of that is simply a bonus!  

3.  I logged on to my favorite spin studio's website and I signed up for 5 classes in the next three weeks.  

Back to the good old days.  I was cycling outdoors quite a bit over the summer and into the fall, but when the clocks changed and the weather got cooler I found excuse after excuse not to exercise outdoors anymore.  I've removed my excuse for the next three weeks because my beloved Pedal Spin studio is climate controlled and the rain doesn't change the ride at all.  After I signed up for the classes, I put them all on my calendar so I wouldn't have an excuse to forget...again.  

4.  I made sure that all of my exercise clothes are ready to go at a moment's notice in an easily accessible drawer.  

It sounds stupid, but because I'm putting my house back together after an unexpected and lengthy remodel (which I'll explain later, with pictures!) I had clothes all over my bedroom and in piles of disarray.  Just getting all of the necessary items in one place is going to help me, even just a teeny tiny bit.  Another small part of this equation is going to be getting the residual junk food out of my house, but I'm not going to try to tackle that all at once.  I find that getting rid of all the junk food makes me feel deprived, then I just rebel and eat like crap anyway.  It defeats the purpose.  

5.  Last, but not least, I'm back to my good old grocery shopping list.  

For a long time I had a routine of what foods I would buy and the good thing was that I got really comfortable with knowing the points plus values of my usual goodies.  The last couple of months have been a disaster of me grabbing whatever I could find at my local Target and eating junk food and fast food like it was the end of the world.  By adding my old grocery list to the knowledge that my beloved Trader Joe's has partnered with Weight Watchers to add over 1,000 of their food items into the Weight Watchers points plus database and I feel like I'm setting myself up for some baby steps back to success.  

So there you go, I'm going to coming around again.  I appreciate the "are you alive" emails, text messages, and tweets.  In fact, if you're not connected to me online somehow then I really hope you'll take a second to do so.  The easiest way is on Twitter, since I try to keep the health related stuff there.  I'm not shy though, feel free to get in touch with me in other ways such as Facebook.  I can always use another friendly person that is willing to share some accountability and support, and I hope I can provide the same to all you lovely people as well!  

recipe review: grilled beef taglaita, rucola, and parmigiano-reggiano with aged balsamico condimento

I face a lot of challenges when cooking, and one of the biggest ones is finding things that my boyfriend eats happily and I can enjoy without blowing all of my points.  I'm always on the lookout for recipes that fit this criteria!  

One of my favorite parts of being a Weight Watchers is that I can eat just about anything that I'd like.  One of my second favorite things about being a Weight Watcher is the online tool called the Recipe Builder.  Both of these statements are part of the recipe that I'm about to share with you.  

I've shared a recipe from the Mozza cookbook before, but it was extremely basic.  You can read it here.  

This is a new recipe, but don't let the fancy name fool you!  It's just a really amazing and marinated skirt steak.  Simple, easy, and probably one of the most delicious things I've eating in a long time.  

Is there a word stronger than delicious?  Scrumptious?  Amazing?  Delectable?  Yah, those.  

Grilled Beef Tagliata, rucola, and Parmigiano-reggiano with aged Balsamico Condimento

about 1 cup of salad and 3 ounces of meat per serving

serves 8

8 Points Plus

For the salad dressing:

1/4 cup minced shallots

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon champagne vinegar

1/2 extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Start the day before with your prep work, it's really simple!  For the salad dressing, combine the shallots, lemon juice, and vinegar in a bowl and allow them to sit and marry for about five minutes.  Whisk in the olive oil and season to taste.  This salad dressing lasts about three days according to the book, but I've used it for up to a week after making it and I love it!  

For the steak marinade:

2 pounds trimmed skirt steak

1 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup fresh rosemary leaves or needles

8 whole garlic cloves

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

In your food processor, combine the vinegar, rosemary, and garlic.  Pulse until rosemary is finely chopped, then add in the olive oil and pulse until everything is combined well.  After you've made sure that the steak is trimmed and the "silver skin" has been removed, you can put the steak into a covered shallow dish or a plastic zippered bag with the marinade.  Allow this to sit overnight in the refrigerator (recipe says one hour minimum).  

For the assembly:

4 ounces freshly shaved parmigiano regiano

8 cups of fresh arugula

the salad dressing you made a few days ago

salt and pepper

aged balsamico condimento (this stuff is delicious and syrup-like)

Bring the steak out of the fridge and to room temperature.  Heat up an indoor grill pan or outdoor barbeque to high heat.  Remove the steaks from the marinade and throw the marinade away.  Salt and pepper the meat well and place it on the grill to sear it.  About 5-6 minutes per side should give you a medium-rare steak, but it all depends on the thickness as well.  Place the steaks on a cutting board to rest while you assemble the salad.  

For the salad, begin by shaving the parmigiano regiano if you haven't already.  You can use a mandoline if you have one, or just use a vegetable peeler if you're like me!  Toss the arugula with the salad dressing that you've made (about 8 tablespoons of it, which is about all of it) and assemble the salad dressing stacked with the parmigiano.  

Slice the steaks diagonally against the grain into 1/2 inch thick slices and use the knife to slide the steak slices onto the plate in a fan like arrangement next to the arugula salad.  Drizzle the steaks with the balsamico condimento and serve.  

Here's a snapshot from the cookbook:

By the way, this is an amazingly great recipe for cold leftovers!  If you'd like to have it later in the week as a salad, just make sure that you don't dress all of the arugula with the dressing.  Then, throw the arugula and steak into a travel container and when you're ready to eat it it, toss everything with the vinaigrette and enjoy!