Chicken Citrus Salad Recipe

An ongoing struggle that I continue to be challenged with~ eating healthy and getting some extra weight off (20 pounds to be exact). I haven't been successful in either over the past multi-number of months of sporadically talking about my weight issue on this blog. Several days ago, when I saw myself in a picture my son took of me, I didn't like seeing the image of a person who has let herself go. I'm usually the one behind the camera taking pictures, so to see myself in this photo was an eye opener. I was sitting in an overstuffed chair, round face, puffy looking eyes, belly flab that you could see through the shirt I was wearing and thick upper arms that used to be muscular. At that moment (seeing the photo), it was like a major turning point for me; I decided to FINALLY get SERIOUS about not just talking healthy eating, but DOING IT! I'm recording everything I eat in a journal / keeping track of my calories; I'm drinking lots of water and doing all the things I KNOW to do. I'm also working more activity in my everyday which is key.

Last night I made one of my favorite recipes from years ago when I was active with my First Place group while living in Florida. It's a "meal salad", called Chicken Citrus Salad that I thought I'd share with bloggy world. It's so good! I served it with whole wheat rolls to balance out the food groups.

4 cups each baby spinach leaves and mixed salad greens
2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
2 cans (15 oz.) mandarin oranges, drained
8 oz. sugar snap peas, halved
1 pkg. (6 oz.) Deli Fresh Oven Roasted Chicken Breast Cuts
1/2 cup Pecan Halves, toasted
1/2 cup KRAFT Light Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing

COMBINE all ingredients.
SERVE immediately.

Makes 8 servings, 1 1/2 cups each ; approximately 175 calories (whole wheat roll adds extra calories)

Exchange per serving: 1 Vegetable, 1 Meat, 1 Fruit

Bathroom Renovation #1~ FINALLY DONE!

...Finally done except for a door that needs painted and a few areas of touch up paint, BUT I'm feeling like good things come to those who wait... AND WORK HARD!

Three months and about $3,800 later, we have our newly renovated bathroom that we are enjoying on a daily basis! This bathroom is somewhat small-6 feet by 9 feet- and to make the space more practical and functional, we did several things. First, we moved the door over about 6 inches and changed the door size from a 32" door to a 28 " door to help make the shower stall wider; we eliminated one of the double sinks to add space to the length of the shower as well as include a linen cupboard. Eliminating one of the double sinks was a hard choice since a double sink vanity is good for re-sale, but a sacrifice we felt was worth it to create an updated space that has more storage and a shower that was bigger and more comfortable to take a shower in. We're feeling like we're in a "spa setting" with our new tile shower and all the nifty details. See for yourself!

View standing in the door way, looking in the bathroom as you enter (BEFORE)

(AFTER)

12" porcelain tile floor, 5" floor baseboards, new walls, new toilet... NEW EVERYTHING!

Sink area (BEFORE)

Sink Area (AFTER)

WOW... it's so much nicer to wash up and brush teeth in a sink area that doesn't have "crusty- black" stuff growing around it.

Shower stall (BEFORE)

Shower Stall(AFTER)

...several built-in's for soap and shampoo.



(below) View from sitting on the throne.
The door still needs to be painted white.

When we moved the door over, we decided to add a transom window that was handcrafted by an artist in Canada (we found him on Ebay-superb craftsmanship!). This window adds a novelty touch to this bathroom space... and it's pleasant to look at while taking care of business.

If you're interested in your own beautiful stained glass window, check out creationeuropeenne. We have been very pleased with this purchase. As we continue to renovate our old fixer upper, I'm keeping my eyes open for a different place in this house I could add another window like this one. Hummm~ maybe the OTHER bathroom?

Time Line... WHAT TIME LINE???

BATHROOM UPDATE~ we're STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS with our bathroom renovation! Our mantra for this house is "It's taking a lot longer than we thought!" We demolished our bathroom in mid-May, and we're still not finished! We are doing a lot of special things to add charm and function to this bathroom that you'll see in the "After" pictures. (hopefully will be done to post pictures in a couple weeks)

For a sneak peak~ here's some of our "in progress" pictures.

This bathroom was a total gut job. It had 1/4" drywall that had cracked over the years of foundation shifting and from the previous post, you can see that it had many other issues.

Kirk installing the new mold & mildew resistant drywall.

We also did all new insulation, which none of the walls previously had. Can't wait to start seeing the savings in our electric bills with all the work we're doing in the areas of energy efficiency!

This is my (Teri), special project that I am single handily constructing- the custom shower stall. Well, I'm doing it all myself, except for updating the plumbing, Kirk did that part for me. I, however, framed out the entire custom shower stall, poured the pre-slope shower pan, did the membrane, then the mud floor, did all the walls, and constructed this corner bench and a couple special shower niches. Thank God for DIYnetwork and several other resources I've used to learn what do do and how to do it right.

I am currently in the process of doing a custom tile job that has been a blast to do... it's just "taking a lot longer than I thought!" As of today, I am half done and hope to be done within two weeks. We'll see!