Tuna Macaroni Salad

One of the recipes I made this week was this healthy take on Tuna Macaroni Salad that uses greek yogurt as a subtitute for all the mayo you'd usually use.  It tasted great and I'm happy I found a healthy version of one of my favorite summer foods!

You will need:
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced celery
2 cans of chunk light tuna packed in water, drained
3 cups cooked whole grain pasta (I accidentally made 4 cups so it came a little more dry than it probably should, but still tasty!)
1 cup frozen peas, defrosted
2 tbs light mayo
1/2 cup fat free plain Greek yogurt
1 tbs red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
-Mix everything together

Literally, that's it!  I'm a huge fan of mac salad with tuna and peas in it, so when I came across this recipe I was pretty pumped.  The greek yogurt really saves you a lot of the fat and makes you feel a lot less guilty about eating this!  I also used whole wheat pasta to make it even better.

Estimated nutrition info from livestrong.com: Yields 6 servings, serving size: 1 cup.  Calories 244; Total Fat 2.5g; Saturated Fat 0.2g; Cholesterol 13.3mg; Sodium 261.8mg; Carbs 43.7g; Dietary Fiber 4.8g; Sugars 5.4g; Protein 17.7g.

Portobella Mushroom Pizza

I took a turn cooking family dinner for my friends last Sunday and decided to try out this recipe for Portobella Mushroom Pizza.  It's such a fun and healthy twist on normal pizza; you cut out the starch by using mushroom caps instead of dough!  It's also perfect because each mushroom cap is the perfect portion for 1 person.

You will need:
4 large portobella mushrooms (I used 6 since I was cooking for more people, so in that case you can also use a little more tomato and onion etc to make more of the sauce)
4 tomatoes, diced
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 leek, chopped
1 onion, chopped
5 leaves fresh basil, chopped
parmigiano reggiano cheese
fresh parsley
1 tbs lemon juice
2 tbs olive oil
salt

the sauce simmering away

empty mushroom caps just waiting to be filled!

"pizzas" ready for baking

 Directions:
-Preheat the oven to 400F.
-Heat up the olive oil in a pan.
-Add the onion and stir until it’s slightly brown.
-Add the tomatoes, garlic, leek, and a pinch of salt to the onions. Saute the ingredients until the tomatoes are soft.
-Squeeze about 1 table spoon of fresh lemon juice over the ingredients.
-Add about 5 leaves of chopped, fresh basil.
-Spray olive oil on a baking sheet and place the mushrooms on the sheet with the bottom side up.
-Add the mixed ingredients from the sauce pan into each mushroom and top with grated parmegiano cheese.
-Bake for 12 minutes.
-Sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley. Ready to serve!

Just out of the oven

close up

so much cheesy, saucy goodness!

This was such an easy and creative recipe.  You could also play around with the toppings a bit and put on whatever you want.  It's full of veggies, super tasty, and each mushroom cap is only 200 calories!  If you're looking for a healthier twist on plain old pizza, you should definitely try this.

Estimated nutrition info from livestrong.com per 1 mushroom cap: Calories 209; Total Fat 12.6g; Saturated Fat 4g; Cholesterol 15mg; Sodium 187.8mg; Carbs 12.9g; Dietary Fiber 3.3g; Sugars 2.9g; Protein 8.9g.

Mom's Three Bean Salad

This past Sunday afternoon as I was standing in my kitchen singing along to Enya, mixing up this three bean salad that my mom always makes and wearing a dress that my mom also owns, it suddenly dawned on me: I have officially turned into my mother!  The whole scene was literally a flashback to any number of such afternoons in my childhood, but instead of my mother dancing around the kitchen with me watching, this time it was me!  This is not at all a bad thing; those of you who are fortunate enough to know my mom already know what an amazing woman she is, and for those of you who don't know her, you can take my word for it.  I'm happy to be a living replica of such a wonderful woman.  So in honor of my mom, and the fact that Mother's Day is right around the corner, I'd like to share one of her recipes with you: her Three Bean Salad.

You will need:
2/3 cup cider vinegar
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 cans each, drained: green beans, yellow wax beans, kidney beans (use the low sodium kind!)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery

Directions:
Mix everything together in a bowl.  Literally, that's it!

Since I didn't make anything during Week 12, I made 2 recipes on Sunday to make up for it and this was one of them.  This salad is really light and refreshing, with a touch of sweetness from the sugar.  It's the perfect side dish for a cookout or a picnic. The beans are full of protein and the celery adds a nice crunch.

Estimated nutrition info from livestrong.com: Yeilds 8 servings, serving size: 1 cup.  Calories 240; Total Fat 9.5g; Saturated Fat 1.4g; Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium 87.6mg; Carbs 35.9g; Dietary Fiber 7.6g; Sugars 19.2g; Protein 6.4g.

Quinoa Vegetable Salad with Lemon-Basil Dressing

In keeping with my warm weather recipes, I made this Quinoa Vegetable Salad last week and was so glad I did!  It was packed with yummy vegetables, filling quinoa, and the lemon-basil dressing was a nice, light touch.

You will need:
1 cup uncooked quinoa
15 oz. can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
3 roma tomatoes
1 orange bell pepper
1 1/2 cups corn
4 green onions

For the dressing:
2 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp basil (or fresh if you have it)

veggie prep!

Directions:
-Rinse quinoa, and cook according to package directions.
-In a small bowl whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, and basil. Set aside.
-Slice green onions, dice roma tomatoes and bell pepper.
-When quinoa is done cooking, let cool. Then place all salad ingredients in a large bowl.
-Pour dressing over top and mix well to combine.
-Can eat immediately or chill before serving.

Everything in one bowl, just the way I like it!

pretty :)

If you're looking for a light but filling summer side dish, look no further.  This quinoa salad is something I will definitely be making all summer long to take to cookouts and picnics.  You could also throw in other veggies as substitutes for anything you don't like, but I think it's perfect the way it is!

Estimated nutrition info from livestrong.com: Yields 6 servings, serving size: 1 cup.  Calories 269; Total Fat 8.1g; Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium 288.3mg; Carbs 40.8g; Dietary Fiber 9.5g; Sugars 1.3g; Protein 9.6g.

Skinny Raspberry Lemonade Cupcakes

These cupcakes are such a perfect summer dessert that won't hurt your diet plans.  The original recipe is here.  The day that I made them we were having Chicken Tinga for dinner, a Mexican dish that a friend of ours made for us.  The cupcakes were perfectly refreshing after the somewhat spicy meal and they weren't too heavy to eat on a warm spring day.

You will need:
1 box white cake mix
3 tsp Raspberry Lemonade flavored Crystal Light Drink Mix
1 6 oz. container Yoplait Light Raspberry Lemonade flavored yogurt (my grocery store didn't have this flavor so I just used Light Raspberry)
2 egg whites
1/2 cup water
1 8 oz. container Cool Whip Lite

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-In a medium size bowl or stand up mixer, mix cake mix, egg whites, Crystal Light mix, yogurt, and water until well mixed and lump free.
-Pour mixture into a 9x13 inch pan or two 8 inch round pans (or a cupcake tin like I did!  I made 20 cupcakes but you could make bigger ones and do about 16).
-Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until cake has cooked through. Let cake cool and top cake with Cool Whip Free topping. For optional toppings, use fresh raspberries or lemon slices. 

adorable pink cupcakes before being frosted...

...and after!

Insta-cupcake

Initially I was nervous that a "skinny" cupcake recipe wouldn't come out quite right, but these cupcakes were the perfect texture and consistency, and the flavor was great!  The bite of the lemonade flavor was balanced out perfectly by the sweetness of the cool whip frosting.  Even the cool whip was a great touch instead of real frosting because it wasn't too heavy or too sweet.  This is a great summer dessert recipe that you don't have to feel bad about!

Estimated nutrition info from livestrong.com for 20 cupcakes (serving size: 1 cupcake): Calories 32; Fat 0.9g; Saturated Fat 0.8g; Cholesterol 0.3mg; Sodium 26.8mg; Carbs 4.4g; Dietary Fiber 0g; Sugars 2.5g; Protein 0.7g.  I got this recipe from the same place as the Skinny Chicken Florentine I made in week 9, and once again our nutrition info differed a lot, so I just went with what livestrong.com gave me since that's the site I always use.

Weekly Tip: Food Snapshot

I've been getting a lot of questions from people about what I'm doing in terms of diet throughout my challenge.  People are asking me if I'm following a strict diet and what I eat, so I decided to give you a snapshot of what a typical day's worth of meals looks like for me.  I'm not actually following any specific diet plan, I just try to stick with lean proteins, veggies, and whole grains.  I also am trying to stay away from a lot of processed and pre-packaged foods and I started learning how to cook so that helps a lot.  To give everyone an idea of what I usually eat, here is my food snapshot from this past Tuesday:

7:00am - Breakfast: Oatmeal and a banana

280 calories

10:15am - Morning Snack: Vanilla greek yogurt with blueberries and granola

240 calories

1:30pm - Lunch: Turkey slices and a Laughing Cow cheese wedge on whole wheat bread with carrots

230 calories

4:30pm - Afternoon Snack: Granola bar

140 calories

7:00pm - Dinner: Chicken breast, sweet potato, and sweet peas

335 calories

9:00pm - Evening snack: Trail mix

160 calories

As you can see, I actually eat quite a bit, and I'm eating totally normal things!  My total calories for that day was about 1380.  Eating a bunch of smaller meals throughout the day means I don't get the urge to binge on something really unhealthy, and this way I never eat too much in one sitting.  This has been a really helpful way for me to watch my portions and also satisfy my snack cravings.  I have fallen in love with trail mix as a low calorie snack in the evenings that still gives me the sweet & salty combo that I love.  I also try to include fruit or veggies with almost every meal.  Chicken or fish are easy enough to make in the evenings for dinner in order to get lean protein.  In terms of drinks, I drink water all day long, so no added calories there!  Usually I have at least 8 glasses, sometimes more.  I also might have a cup of coffee or tea once in a while, which have almost zero calories.

Have you made any changes to your diet that have worked well or not so much?  Tell me about it!  As always, feel free to send any questions my way.  Happy eating!

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Bars

I made these Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Bars last week to change things up from the dinner recipes I had been trying and they came out great.  I ate them for breakfast all week long, they were so satisfying!  Not sweet enough to be dessert but not too dry or bland either.

You will need:

1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt (I used regular salt, just use half the amount)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 large mashed banana
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter (I used low fat)

dry ingredients

after adding wet ingredients

Directions:

-Mix together the quick cooking oats, light brown sugar, baking powder, kosher salt, and ground cinnamon.
-Add in the vanilla extract, milk and egg. Mix the ingredients together.
-Add in the mashed banana and peanut butter. Combine all of the ingredients.
-Pour the mixture into a lightly greased 8 by 8 inch metal baking pan. Bake at 350 F degrees for 20 minutes.
-Cut into squares and enjoy!

All done!

so light and fluffy!

These are just like making your own granola bars, except way better since you know all the ingredients and what's going into them.  They're perfect in the morning with some fresh fruit and a cup of coffee.  These bars  were so tasty and satisfying, I would definitely make them again!

Estimated nutrition info from livestrong.com:  Yields: 8 bars, Serving size: 1 bar.  Calories 160; Fat 5g; Cholesterol 0.9mg; Sodium 164.8mg; Carbs 24.5g; Dietary Fiber 2.1g; Sugars 10.1g; Protein 5.4g.

Weekly Tip: Portion Control

I'm a firm believer in the idea that it's not necessarily what you eat that impacts your weight, but how much.  Everything in moderation, right?  A lot of people struggle with portion control, including myself, and no matter how much working out you do, if you're still eating too much you won't be able to achieve your weight loss goals.  Understanding what 1 serving of something actually looks like can really help.  Learning how much food is appropriate to eat in one sitting can be a challenge, and one of my main goals for my weight loss journey was to adjust my concept of portion sizes and what's appropriate, so I've come up with a list of tips on how to train yourself to eat less.

•  Track your food!  I've said this once and I'll say it again: tracking my food has been the single most helpful change I've made since starting my challenge.  I had no idea how much food I was actually eating until I started recording every bite, and it really opened my eyes to the fact that I was eating way too much.  If you start keeping track of your food intake, you automatically start thinking about your food choices more, which can lead to better eating habits.
• If you're a visual person, use smaller plates.  You have to trick your brain into thinking that a full, albeit smaller, plate of food is the appropriate amount.  Especially if you feel the need to finish everything that's on your plate, this trick will allow you to do so without overeating.
• Put your fork down in between each bite.  We all need to slow things down a little when it comes to meal times.  We're always so rushed to shovel all our food into our mouths like it's going to disappear, but guess what: it's not going anywhere.  If you slow down your eating, you give your stomach time to send signals to your brain that you're full, so you end up eating less.
• Don't put more food in your mouth until you've swallowed your last bite.  Why must we constantly try to fit as much food into our mouths as possible?  Waiting until you've swallowed to take another bite of something works on the same principle as the last trick, it slows you down.
• Read nutrition labels.  Any food that comes with a label will give you a serving size, and this is what you need to be paying more attention to.  Not only does reading the nutritional information help you get a better idea of what you're putting in your body, but sticking to the serving size listed on the package means you're eating the proper amount.

In order to break bad habits, we have to create new ones to replace them.  These tips will help you retrain yourself into understanding how much food is the right amount to be eating.  Let me know if they work for you!

Corned Beef, Cabbage, and Potatoes

My first ever experience making St. Patrick's Day dinner was a complete success.  The corned beef was juicy and flavorful, and the vegetables were cooked to perfection.  There are only 7 ingredients, and it all went straight into the crock pot, which made for very easy prep.  The hardest part was chopping the veggies!  The original recipe I used is here.

You will need: 

4 large carrots, peeled and cut into matchstick pieces 

10 baby red potatoes, quartered  

1 onion, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces

4 cups water 

1 (4 pound) corned beef brisket with spice packet 
6 ounces beer (I didn't have any at the time so I omitted the beer and it still came out fine)
1/2 head cabbage, coarsely chopped 

Look at that beautiful hunk of meat!  And what a wonderful job of chopping veggies someone did...

Directions: 
-Place the carrots, potatoes, and onion into the bottom of a slow cooker, pour in the water.
-Place the brisket on top of the vegetables. Pour the beer over the brisket. Sprinkle on the spices from the packet, cover, and set the cooker on High. 
-Cook the brisket for about 8 hours. An hour before serving, stir in the cabbage and cook for 1 more hour. That means total cook time is 9 hours, so be prepared!

Nothing says Irish like corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes

Perfectly cooked corned beef

Delicious veggies

Ta-da!!!

Chicken Orzo Salad

As usual, this recipe came to me via Pinterest, you can find the original here.  I followed the original recipe and what I got was a refreshing, light salad that's perfect for the coming spring and summer months.  It was incredibly easy, meaning you literally throw everything into one bowl and stir.  Next time the only thing I might change would be to add slightly more dressing, since it did get a little dry when I ate it for leftovers throughout the week, but besides that, perfection!

You will need:
1 1/4 cups uncooked orzo

3 cups chopped cooked chicken (I used a rotisserie chicken and picked the meat off)

1 1/2 cups trimmed arugula

1 cup grape tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper

1/4 cup chopped red onion

2 tbsp chopped fresh basil

1/2 tsp dried oregano

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

6 tbsp goat cheese crumbles

 

Salad prep!

Directions:

-Cook pasta according to package directions; drain well.

-Combine pasta, chicken, and the next 6 ingredients (through oregano) in a large bowl; toss well.

-Combine vinegar, oil, salt, and black pepper in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Drizzle vinegar mixture over pasta mixture; toss well to coat. Sprinkle with cheese.

 

Finished product

 I brought this over to my friend's house for a cookout and it was a big hit.  It's such a fresh, warm weather recipe that's perfect as a side or the main dish.  

Here are the ESTIMATED nutrition facts:  Serves 8, serving size: 1 cup.  Calories 347; fat 16g; saturated fat 5.6g; cholesterol 79.9g; sodium 396.9; carbs 30g; dietary fiber 1.8g; sugars 2.8g; protein 21.9g.

Weekly Tip: Cheat.

I know I've mentioned this in previous posts, but I am definitely a big supporter of the CHEAT DAY!  Taking a cheat day, or even just a cheat meal, once a week is a way to keep your body guessing and give you a break from your (hopefully) normally regimented diet.  Since your body can adjust to pretty much anything, the cheat day allows you to surprise your body and change things up a bit.  It's also a nice chance for you to enjoy some of the foods you wouldn't normally eat as part of your weight loss plan.  I'm not saying healthy foods can't be delicious, but it's hard to get excited about veggies and lean proteins all day, every day, for weeks on end.  Since a cheat day lets you indulge in some of your less healthy preferred eats, it keeps things interesting for you and makes you more likely to stick with your long term plan. 

It's important to remember that you can't use the cheat day as an excuse to eat whatever you want, whenever you want.  For example, a friend invites you out to dinner and you decide, "Sure, I'll spring for the burger with everything on top and the chili cheese fries, this can be my cheat meal!"  Then 2 days later someone brings cupcakes in to work and all of the sudden, you're having another cheat meal, and another, and another.  That kind of thinking can snowball and quickly ruin all your hard work.  You need to plan this ahead of time.  Pick one day a week when you know you're going to be a little more lax with your food choices, and keep it the same day every week.  For me, my cheat day is always on the weekend, since it's easier for me to keep a regimented meal plan during the week on a full time work schedule.  Also, you're more likely to be going out with friends to dinner and drinks etc. on the weekends, which is when you want to loosen up and be more lax about your choices.

Cheat days, while enjoyable, can also be very dangerous for people who don't have the right amount of self-control.  If you're the kind of person with the "once you pop, you just can't stop" mentality, then taking a cheat day might not be the best idea for you.  For some people, once they've cheated it's hard to then go back to their healthy meal plan and they just give it up completely.  If a weekly cheat day is too frequent for you, it might be better to time your cheat day with milestones, like for every x amount of pounds you lose, or once you're able to run x miles.  That way your cheat meal isn't quite as frequent, but you still have something to look forward to along the way.

Also really important: even on your cheat day, always remember that ultimately, you have set weight loss goals for yourself and you can ruin them by making poor food choices.  The cheat day should not be a free pass to go crazy and eat things that will completely undo all your fabulous progress.  Keep your portion sizes in check, and try to still include fruits and veggies along with the more unhealthy things you might be enjoying that day.

Most importantly, do what works best for you.  What works for some does not work for everyone.  Know your limits and stay in control of your food, your choices, and your goals.  Enjoy!

Pesto Ranch Crock Pot Chicken

I'm excited to share my first crock pot recipe with everyone!  This recipe that I made during week 5 was so easy and so yummy.  There are only 4 ingredients, which was what initially drew me to the recipe, and using a crock pot just makes everything so much easier in general anyway (original recipe here). 

You will need: 
8 boneless skinless chicken thighs (I used 6 breasts and it worked just fine)
6 ounce jar of pesto 
1 package Ranch Dressing Seasoning Mix 
1/2 cup chicken broth (use the low sodium kind if you can find it!)

Raw chicken, chillen

Directions:
-Turn crock pot to high setting.
-Place chicken thighs, pesto, ranch dressing and chicken broth into crock pot.
-Stir gently to combine all seasonings.
-Close with lid and cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours.

Finished product!

I served the chicken with some rice and it was just so moist and juicy, I got great reviews from my friends/taste testers!

Nutrition info generated from livestrong.com for 6 chicken breasts (the ones I used were about 9 oz each so they were pretty big), per serving: Calories 455, Fat 16.3g, Saturated Fat 2g, Cholesterol 151.7g, Sodium 1257.8g, Carbs 6.8g, Dietary Fiber 0.7g, Sugars 1.4g, Protein 61g.

The sodium content is pretty high thanks to the ranch dressing packet, and if you had a homemade pesto recipe that might also bring down the fat and cholesterol counts.  Important to note also that 9 oz chicken breasts are pretty big so you could really eat a half at a time like I did and that would be plenty.  Let me know if you try out this recipe and what you think!

Weekly Tip: Drink More!

...water, that is.  I was talking about this with my friends over dinner last night, which inspired me to use it as my weekly tip.  It's one of the most important factors for weight loss, and for your overall health: drinking enough water.  Many of us aren't actually getting as much water as we need, so it's important to keep this in mind at all times, but especially when you're trying to lose weight.

Staying hydrated is important for your health and fitness for gazillions of reasons, but here are just a few:

• Usually when you first start to lose weight, you lose water weight, so you need to drink enough water to avoid dehydration during this initial stage.
• Also good to note, dehydration slows down the fat-burning process, therefore the more hydrated you are, the faster your body can trim fat!
• Burning calories creates toxins, kind of like a car letting out exhaust, and water helps your body flush out those toxins.
• Drinking water before meals can make you feel full faster, and thus more satisfied with less food.  Many of the times we think we're hungry, we're actually dehydrated.

I know a lot of people aren't big water drinkers like me (I drink at least 8 12 oz. glasses per day), so here are some tips for drinking more water:

• Add lemon!  This is for the person with a sweet tooth who usually opts for sugary drinks like pop or juice.  Try squeezing some lemon into your water to make it a little more palatable without adding tons of extra sugar.
• Drink a glass of water first thing when you wake up in the morning.  This will rehydrate your body after hours of sleep with no water.
•  Drink an entire glass of water before each meal.  This will help you feel full faster, and if you're eating 4-5 small meals a day, this guarantees that you'll drink at least 4-5 glasses of water.
• ALWAYS drink water during a workout.  ALWAYS.  

This is just one example of an article about drinking enough water.

Doesn't that just look so refreshing?!

Shmammy's Turkey Chili

These are by far the funniest recipe directions I've ever received, so even if you don't make this you should still read through and have a nice laugh!  One of my best friends (Shmammy) sent me this Turkey Chili recipe to try out last week, and it was delicious!  I wanted to share it with everyone before the weather gets too warm for a dish like this, so here you go (you're welcome in advance):

I can practically smell it cooking.

You will need:
1 cup chopped onions
3 cloves garlic (or 3 tbs minced garlic)
1 cup mushrooms
2 tsps cumin
1 tsp oregano
1 tbs chili powder
1 lb lean ground turkey
1 28 oz. can of dice tomatoes
1 15 oz. can kidney beans
1 15 oz. can pinto beans 
1 cup of water (optional)

Directions:

-Get a big pot!

-Saute 1 cup of chopped onions and 3 cloves of garlic!  (or a few tbs if you have the jarred minced garlic like me!)

-Do that for like 3 min?

-Put the mushroomies in there!  I think the recipe said a cup but I like me some mushrooms so I put in a lot more.

-Let that cook for 5 min!

-Add in 2 tsp of cumin!

-1 tsp of oregano i think? haha

-1 tbs of chili powder!

-Let that get all yummy then add in 1 lb of ground turkey!  Go for the lean!

-Cook that until it's no longer pink and add 1 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes!

-Add 1 can of kidney beans and 1 can of pinto (Add what you like! Black beans? Even corn? Woohoo for southwestern!)

-1 cup of water is optional depending on how thick you want it.

-Let that simmer for 30 min!

-Eat with multigrain crackers!  A yummy baguette!  Goldfishies!  Cheese!  Sour cream!  Put it over brown rice!  Yummmmmmmerooni!

These directions had me cracking up laughing!  I served it over brown rice and sprinkled some low fat cheddar cheese on top...DEEE-LICIOUS! 

The finished product

I put the recipe into my food tracking site (www.livestrong.com) and it generated the following nutritional data: Yields approx. 8 1 cup servings.  Per serving: Calories 287; Fat 4g; Cholesterol 32.5mg; Sodium 411mg; Carbs 39g; Dietary Fiber 14.6g; Sugars 4.8g; Protein 24.8g.

If you try this out, let me know how it goes!