Easy Sesame Noodles - YOU HAVE TO TRY THESE!!!!

This is such a delicious recipe. We had it at our Enrichment Activity this month. It was cold at the activity and it was still fantastic!!

EASY SESAME NOODLES

Ingredients
12 ounces thin spaghetti
¼ cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sesame oil
½ teaspoon hot chili oil
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons hot water
3-4 green onions, sliced

Directions
Cook pasta according to package directions; drain.  Meanwhile, whisk remaining ingredients (except green onions) together in a large bowl. Pour drained noodles into bowl with soy sauce mixture and toss until noodles are evenly coated.  Sprinkle with green onions and serve.

Let's Dish
It's hard to believe something so easy can be so good.  This takes less than 15 minutes to make, and everyone in my family loved it.  Even the picky eaters.  The ones who usually turn their noses up at anything other than butter on Parmesan cheese on their pasta.  You can use Japanese noodles if your supermarket carries them, angel hair, or any other type of long, thin pasta.  I often use red pepper flakes in place of the hot chili oil.  Serve these with a salad and you've got a complete meal in practically no time.

-Emily

Easy Chicken Meatloaf

1 pkg Ground Chicken
1 pkg Stove Top
2 Eggs
1 cup Chopped Spinach
1/3 - 1/2 cup Water
1 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 pkg Onion Soup Mix

Mix well with hands. Form into Loaf Pan. Bake 25 minutes at 400 F. Remove from oven, top with thin layer of Ketchup. Bake 10 more minutes.

** Made tonight for dinner and is probably the best meatloaf I have tried yet. I have been on kind of a meatloaf kick lately, trying a few different recipes. This was definitely Tyler's favorite. He ate evry single bite. I don't have Trevor's ratin yet because he is still at school!

Final Results Are In...

Name	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Week 8	Totals
Ashley	124	161	203	204	193	175	100	180	1340
Bev	210	248	211	221	233	229	220	239	1811
Emily	218	237	236	226	230	269	248	232	1896
Inalee	204	235	224	193	214	194	100	130	1494
Jen	200	187	150	160	202	143	118	150	1310
Mallory	196	207	153	143	157	153	146	170	1325
Mandy	199	215	177	179	219	197	158	191	1535
Pete	197	280	180	237	216	209	224	229	1772
Scott	163	206	135	129	0	0	0	0	633

Well, it was a good 8 weeks!! Emily is the points winner and Mom is the winner for losing the most percentage of weight, with a whopping 7.9% weight loss. Dad wasn't far behind with 7.8%. Good work everybody.

We are thinking of redoing the challenge, not for a prize this time, and will be making a few modifications. We will still report points so that we are accountable for what we are trying to do. When we are all down for the wedding this weekend we will be discussing some changes that people would like made. If you are interested in participating again, just let me know.

Thanks everybody for getting me motivated to actually get on the weight-loss path!!

Week 7

Sorry for the delay. Here are the results:

Name	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Week 8	Totals
Ashley	124	161	203	204	193	175	100		1160
Bev	210	248	211	221	233	229	220		1572
Emily	218	237	236	226	230	269	248		1664
Inalee	204	235	224	193	214	194	100		1364
Jen	200	187	150	160	202	143	118		1160
Mallory	196	207	153	143	157	153	146		1155
Mandy	199	215	177	179	219	197	158		1344
Pete	197	280	180	237	216	209	224		1543
Scott	163	206	135	129	0	0	0		633

We are in the Homestretch now! Only a few more days. I hope everyone is having a great Final Week!

A Delicious Pasta

Roasted Cauliflower and Parmesan Pasta

Serves: 4
Calories: 421/ serving

1 head cauliflower
2 cloves garlic (I buy minced)
3 Tbsp oil
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 pound spaghetti (I used angel hair)
1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley (I omitted)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper (used cayenne)

Cut cauliflower into bite size florets; discard stem. Place in colander and pass under cold water to wash. Transfer to rimmed sheet pan.

Chop garlic and add to pan. Drizzle everything with oil an sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper. Toss together with your hands and spread in single layer.

Roast for 15 minutes, toss, roast 10 more minutes.

Meanwhile, cook pasta to al dente. Save 3/4 cup of pasta water. Drain rest of water. Return pasta and reserves liquid to pot, place on low heat. Add cheese and melt to coat. Remove from heat, add cauliflower, parsley and red pepper. Salt if needed.

**Made this for dinner just now. Trevor said "If there was some way to replace meat in every recipe with this cauliflower, that would be awesome". It was a big hit with all 3 of us!

5K

To answer your question Dad from Facebook, since when did I take up running in 5K's, I started really running and training a few months ago. And now I can say I am able to comfortably run a full 5 kilometers without stopping! That's about 35 straight minutes. And when I say comfortably I still had to push myself pretty hard the last few minutes. It took a few weeks longer than expected to get here because I hit a few walls but I am pretty proud of myself! And just recently Em and I signed up for the Color Me Rad 5K in July! I'm pretty excited! Now to try for 10K...

Basic Muffins

           
Serves: 12

Cook Time: 20 – 25 minutes

Temperature: 400 F

Calories: 91                        

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups  Flour

4 tsp  Sugar

2 tsp  Baking Powder

1/2 tsp  Salt

1 cup  Fat-Free Milk

1 large  Egg

4 tsp  Unsalted Butter, melted

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder & salt. In separate bowl, combine milk, egg, & butter. Pour over flour mix, stirring until just blended. Fill tin 2/3 full, bake.

Berry Muffins

Add 3/4 cup fresh blueberries or raspberries to flour mixture.

Sweet Muffins

Substitute dark brown sugar or maple sugar for granulated sugar.

Orange Muffins

Mix 1/2 cup fat-free milk, 1/2 cup orange juice, and 2 tsp grated orange zest; use instead of fat free milk.

Lemon Muffins

Mix 3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp fat-free milk, 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice and 2 tsp lemon zest; use instead of fat-free milk.

Chocolate Muffins

Use 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder and 1 1/2 cups flour. Increase sugar to 3 Tbsp. Add 1 tsp vanilla extract to liquid. Dust with 1 tsp icing sugar when slightly cooled.     

**I made the Berry Muffins, using Raspberries, and they were wonderful. Trevor doesn't usually eat muffins, but he loved these!