Meet Tammy. She blogs at Organize Yourself Skinny, and she has a great story to share! After 12 years of struggle, she made a simple choice to track what she ate. By holding herself accountable and educating herself about healthy food choices, she has slowly but surely made remarkable progress. Her philosophy is that whatever you do on the first day of your “diet,” you have to be able to do for the rest of your life. Better to build a healthy life than just shed pounds quickly. She just compiled all that she has learned in her new E-book, Organize Yourself Skinny: 5 Strategies to Help Busy People Create a Healthier Lifestyle and Lose Weight. We can’t agree more that planning is key. She even includes some of her own tips on freezer cooking to keep your diet goals on track!
Find more from Tammy on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter. Here are some of Tammy’s readers favorite recipes.
Original: Cuban Pita Pizzas (diet, weight watchers)
Freezable: Cuban Pita Pizzas (log-in required)
Original: Grilled Cheeseburger Wrap (diet, weight watchers)
Freezable: Grilled Cheeseburger Wrap (log-in required)
Other great recipes you can find from Organize Yourself Skinny as part of OAMM membership:
- Loaded Baked Potato Soup – Original Freezable
- Mushroom, Bacon, and Cheddar Breakfast Burritos – Original Freezable
- Chicken Sausage, Peppers, and Onion Personal Pan Pizza – Original Freezable
- Sun-dried Tomato and Feta Meatloaf – Original Freezable
How long have you been blogging about food?
I started my blog in March 2011 – so almost 4 full years! I can’t believe how fast time flies. I actually just left my cushy state job this past August to work full-time on my blog Organize Yourself Skinny. So now I spend lots of time creating and testing recipes.
Have you always loved cooking, or was it a skill that you learned to love? Who taught you to cook?
I always loved to read cookbooks and would dream about loving to cook but did not begin to appreciate cooking until I started blogging. Cooking to me was more about “have to” instead of “want to.” I have to eat. My kids have to eat. However, the more I cooked the more confident I became with my cooking. That is when I started to want to cook a lot more. I found myself researching more recipes and stepping outside my comfort zone with flavors, ingredients, and technique. Something I always say on my blog is “it never gets easier, you only get better”. Well, it can be anything. Weight loss, riding a bike, running 5 miles, and even cooking. The more you do it the better you get at it.
My mother is a great cook and so was my grandmother. I watched them both in the kitchen when I was growing up. They never sat me down and “taught me” per se but being in the kitchen provided me with hands on learning.
What is your favorite meal to serve to family and friends? What is your favorite treat to make for yourself?
Anytime I am invited to a party my friends and/or family ask me to bring my famous artichoke and spinach dip. I have probably made that recipe 100s of times. Other than that, I love making homemade pizza – all different kinds. So if I am cooking dinner for my friends, I always find a way to slip a homemade pizza on the menu. A favorite treat I make for myself is…hmmmm…that’s a hard one. If I am alone and cooking for myself I usually just grab a bottle of wine along with some cheese and crackers. Not kidding. But if I must cook then I love comfort food so I would prepare something with pasta and cheese. Or maybe just a quick pita pizza – I typically don’t get fancy when it’s just my lonesome and me.
What is your favorite kitchen tool or gadget? Tell us a little about how you fell in love with it and how you use it in your kitchen.
I love my Vitamix blender. I started to drink green smoothies a little over a year ago and during that time acquired a Vitamix. In my opinion, there is nothing like a Vitamix and I can’t imagine life without it. I use it everyday. I mostly use it for green smoothies but I have also made hummus and soups with it.
Another favorite kitchen tool of mine is the slow cooker. I prepare 1 -3 slow cooker recipes a week. I fell in love with my slow cooker a few years back when I was working full-time outside the home. I would set it before I left for work and come home to a hot delicious dinner – it was great. Today, I work at home as a full-time blogger and I still experience the time saving benefits of a slow cooker. It is a huge stress reliever to know dinner is cooking while I am taking care of business! Seriously, a slow cooker is a busy mom’s best friend.
When you are meal planning or looking for new recipes, what kind of guidelines do you follow for choosing them or what gives you inspiration?
When I am looking for new recipes I look for healthy, delicious, and easy to prepare recipes that my whole family will like. I also look for recipes that can be made ahead of time and frozen. Make ahead meals along with freezer cooking are the two cooking methods that continue to help me feed my family healthy nutritious food. They are also a main part of my weight loss strategy. It is much easier to eat healthy foods when they are prepared ahead of time.
(She said it, not I! I promise, I didn’t even coach her.)
What items are ALWAYS on your grocery list? What items will you NEVER put on your grocery list?
Items that are always on my grocery list are frozen fruit, kale, and coconut milk for smoothies; ingredients for my mason jar salads; and I always make sure to have lunch and snack items like cheese sticks, yogurt, and fruit. All my other ingredients depend on what I am making that week. I would never make any food 100% off limits because that would cause my children to beg nonstop until I turn into a zombie and buy it. However, I try to stay away from zingers, Ho Hos, chocolate covered pretzels, and other delicious yet extremely unhealthy things like that. But if you see me sneak a Reese Peanut Butter cup please don’t judge.
Tell us the best kitchen tip or trick that you’ve ever discovered.
The best kitchen tip I discovered was using a muffin tin to freeze ahead of time my steel cut oatmeal, soups, and chili into single serving portions. Here is a link to my instructions. I felt like I discovered electricity!
(I love this tip!)
What do you like to do when you aren’t cooking or blogging?
When I am not in the kitchen I love spending time with my family and close friends. Usually, we are just hanging out drinking coffee, laughing at our own jokes, and simply relaxing. I also must admit I love to be primped and pampered at the salon. I think it is really important to make time for you. Therefore “me time” is always scheduled into my calendar.
Have you ever freezer cooked? Share some of your favorite recipes or tips.
I live by freezer cooking. Without this cooking method I would never have time to cook healthy foods every day. I don’t prepare a lot of casseroles or complete meals for the freezer. I prefer freezing grab and go meals or components of a meal. My favorite freezer recipes are breakfast burritos, shredded chicken, steel cut oats, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, slow cooker meatball subs, homemade chicken tenders, and slow cooker freezer kits.
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