Taking a Minute

Ahh Saturday, I needed this day so very much.  This past week has been crazy busy and I am so glad to have a mellow day today.  Plus I missed my husband so very much because he was away for work!  He is home for now and we are enjoying a nice cozy day at home for the most part 🙂

Today so far has consisted of breakfast made by Aaron using the very few groceries we have:

He makes the most amazing egg creations using whatever veggies or meat we have on hand!  Yummy way to start the day 🙂

After grocery shopping and running errands in the rain we brought home a Costco pizza for lunch…. I love Costco pizza, it is cheap and good and perfect when you don’t want to cook.

Our lunch was enjoyed on t.v. trays while watching Lost, if you know me at all you know this is pretty much my ideal day 🙂  I am guessing one slice of that pizza is roughly 1 million calories, but I do not care, every bite was worth it!

Because the past week was so crazy with work I sadly did not work out as much as I would have liked to.  When you are gone from 7am to 10pm somehow running just not work out, ya know?  I am really hoping this week is a different story.  I am tempted to start doing what I know a lot of other people do and start a workout calendar.  Every Sunday they sit down and plan out their exercise for the week, what they going to do and when they are going to do it.  Then they stick to it, as if they made plans with a friend and don’t want to cancel they don’t cancel on their exercise.  I think this might be helpful for me right now but at the same time some days I go to work and I may be off at 2pm or I may be off at 5:30pm, so it can make planning a bit difficult.  I think realistically the best thing may be getting it done first thing in the morning, as much as I hate losing sleep, I know that I can wake up and do it and nothing else will come up that will change my plan.  We will see what I decide when my alarm goes off at 5:30 on Monday morning 😉

Shout Out

I just want to take a minute to say how proud I am of my amazing sister Jonna.   She ran a half marathon a couple weeks back and I am just so amazed and proud of her!!!  She is a mama to 3 beautiful children and busy as can be and still found time to do this 🙂  I would love love love to train and do a half marathon and she is such an inspiration to me to do so!  I love you sister!

 

 

You Know You Are Cooking for Yourself when…

Your dinner consists of

goat cheese crumbles

half an avocado

and slices of smoked salmon

There may or may not have been a few Ruffles Chips thrown on the side too 😉  There is just nothing like a simple meal when it is just you for the night.  I absolutely love to cook but some nights it is nice to just throw some random stuff on a plate and call it a meal.  I feel a bit spoiled by the “stuff” I threw on my plate.

I have to be honest, don’t look for many new recipes this week….It is just me for dinner this week so I am taking a break from cooking and will be eating A LOT of salads, sandwiches and meals like tonight where I use whatever we have on hand!

 

I don’t want to leave you with NO yummy recipe today so here is something I am dying to make!  Skinny Texas Cheese Fries…I know I know how can that even be remotely “skinny?”  I am guessing the minute you make these and then lock yourself in the closet eating them all so you don’t have to share them with your family is the minute they stop being “skinny”.

Click here for the recipe

Photo Courtesy of Skinnytaste.com

 

Plant a Garden

Last year was our first summer in our home together, and it was also the first summer I ever planted a garden.  Aaron grew up on many acres with fruit trees and a nice big garden.  I was always so excited to go over there in the summer and come home with bags and bags of peaches, tomatoes, berries, and every other fruit and veggie possible!  It is so amazing how much cheaper your grocery bill is when your produce is taken care of for the most part.  For just a few dollars you can buy seeds or plants to grow in your garden and keep your fridge stocked for months!

With spring officially here I highly encourage you to consider planting a garden. If you don’t have a lot of space or have bad soil you can always do a raised garden.  If like me you are new at this garden stuff then use resources like Sunset to help you through it. You want to make sure you wait until there is no longer a chance of frost at night.  We are just about there, by about April in California you should be safe.

Our first little plants!

Top Reasons for Planting a Garden

*  Cost.  Everything really always comes back to money doesn’t it???  With rising food costs it is so much more economical to at least be able to save money on fruits and vegetables.  We recently bought a couple packages of certified organic seeds at just about $2.50 per package, and those seeds will give us months worth of produce.

*  It is healthy!  I found last summer that with such an abundance of vegetables growing just outside my kitchen window I was completely inspired to include them in every meal.  There is nothing tastier than a freshly pulled garden tomato cut up into a salad with peppers and green beans from your yard.  A great addition was that toward the end of summer we still had so many vegetables that we were able to freeze the green beans and peppers to use them throughout the winter.  This year we are trying to use only organic veggies in our garden, it is a little pricier but better for our health.  Compared to the cost of organic food in stores the cost is not too shabby.

*  Good for our planet.  You can grow your food organically and without pesticides or herbicides, reducing the damage to our planet.  I think that growing our own food is such a simple way to live.  I am very inspired by people who use grocery stores very minimally because they have the space and time to provide for themselves.

*Great form of exercise.  You don’t know sweat until you are crouched down in the garden when it is 100 degrees outside and you are picking baskets full of green beans.  If you grow a good size garden you are guaranteed I would say at least 2 hours a week of time outside picking vegetables.

My favorite things to plant

Green Beans, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, spinach, carrots, cucumbers, onions, peas.  I will keep you posted what we plant this year!

 

Out of Town

I have the week off from work, one huge perk of working on a college campus is that for the most part I get to be off when the students are off.  I am very excited for a little break!  Aaron has to spend the week in Sacramento for work so I came along and we are crashing at my brother’s house for the week.  That means lots of family time, cooking for the boys and relaxing on my days off.  My tummy has been having some troubles but I am feeling good now!

Although I am considering myself “on vacation” this week because I am not home and therefore have no laundry or cleaning calling to me, I still want to work out and be active.  Mostly cause then I don’t feel as bad if I splurge a bit on food.  Like eating this salad:

That my friends is the Roadhouse Salad (with tri tip) from The Buckhorn Grill in Sacramento.  I have eaten there a handful of times and I have ordered it every single time, I think it is one of my favorite restaurant salads.  It is mixed greens topped with tri tip, string beans, sweet walnuts, tomatoes, blue cheese, and Roadhouse onion strings topped with a honey basil vinaigrette.  I love that they ask when you order if you would like the dressing on the side!  I like to think this salad is healthy, and yes the lettuce, tomatoes and beans are.  I am pretty sure the onion strings on top cancel everything out but I would rather die than not have those on top, they are that good.

Some other eats:

Sushi Boat buffet in Davis….

Yeah I ate my body weight in Sushi there.  I have decided that sushi floating by you on boats and you can just take whatever you want from is the most dangerous way to eat food. For lunch it is $13.95 per person and all you can eat.  If you go out to sushi you know how expensive it can be and one order of rolls alone could cost that much so it really is a great price, I highly recommend going there!!

In the meantime I did P90x chest and back workout with my brother followed by the ab workout.  I don’t think I will ever recover from this soreness.  I woke up in the middle of the night night and tried to move and decided I would just forever stay in that position and never get out of bed.  I think I will do some yoga today to relieve my aching body, its a good ache but an ache nonetheless.

I created my own Manicotti recipe using the few things we picked up at the store and it turned out pretty darn good.  I think in dishes like Manicotti it really is the cheese and tomato sauce that make the dish, but with this dish the hot chicken sausage and roasted bell peppers I made really brought out a nice flavor!  I substituted Ricotta cheese with pureed cottage cheese to lighten it up and I thought that worked just fine!

Lightened up Manicotti

serves 4 people at 2 pieces per person

8 Manicotti

3/4 cup cottage cheese, 2% lowfat

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (divided)

1/2 cup sharp white cheddar cheese (divided)

12 oz. of crumbled and cooked hot italian chicken sausage

salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste

2 bell peppers roasted (recipe link here)

1.5 – 2 cups of tomato sauce

2 cups of fresh spinach

Instructions:

Boil 8 Manicotti shells until al dente

use this tomato sauce

In a food processor or blender puree 3/4 cup of 2% low fat cottage cheese

In a bowl combine cottage cheese, cooked crumbled hot Italian chicken sausage, 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese or a combo of mozzarella and provolone, 1/4 cup sharp white cheddar cheese and 1/4 cup roasted bell peppers  Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder.

in a 13×9 baking pan spoon 1/4 cup tomato sauce and cover with 2 cups of fresh spinach

In each piece of Manicotti spoon about 3 tbsp of cheese mixture until it is full.  Arrange on baking dish and cover with 1-2 cups of sauce, 1/2 cup of shredded sharp white cheddar and mozzarella and 1/4 cup of sausage and bell pepper mixture.

Cover with foil and Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes, the last ten minutes remove the foil 🙂

I may or may not have been so hungry I forgot to snap a picture of the finished product, sorry!!

 

 

 

Maintaining

I don’t necessarily consider myself an expert on the subject of maintaining your weight but I maintained my unhealthy weight for a long time and now am maintaining a healthier weight so maintenance is something I do have thoughts on….  So to clarify, if you want to maintain an unhealthy weight as I did continue to eat copious amounts of cheese, chips, pasta and pizza.  Don’t forget to never work out and when possible two dinners are always better than one.

Now, if you are trying to maintain a healthy weight that is more complicated.  I would not actually consider myself in the “maintenance” phase of weight loss yet, I still have more pounds to go but I am trying to maintain what I am doing overall and not gain any weight.  After you lose weight whether it is 50 or 15 pounds you will definitely have the fear that you will gain that weight back, and I hate to say it but there is a good chance that you will gain it back.  The odds are not in your favor, a crazy amount of people lose large amounts of weight only to gain it back.  So what do you do to lessen these fears but also maintain your success?

1.  Continue to weigh yourself regularly.  Some people do not believe in weighing yourself, let alone on a regular basis.  I am not one of those people.  I weigh myself at least once a week.  If you do not become obsessed with the number you see on the scale I think weighing yourself is a great way to check in with yourself.  If my weight has gone up that week it is a good reminder to me to reel it in and work out some more and eat healthier.  You would be surprised how much your weight can fluctuate after only a few weeks of unhealthy choices so I try not to go too long without checking in on the scale.

2.  Let loose slowly.  Once you hit maintenance mode it can be tempting to say “I did it, I reached my goal!” and then proceed to eat cake, cookies and frosting from the can.  Some people chose to cut these foods out completely when losing weight while others like myself believe there is a balance.  I feel this way too for when you are in maintenance mode.  Slowly let yourself enjoy some treats each week, maybe once or twice a week in moderation.  Some people have the fear that they have lost all this weight and will not have the self control to limit themselves if they introduce sweets back into their lives.  Here is the thing though, if you have lost all this weight, you do have the self control.  Losing weight has proven that you can say no to excess, yes to working out and healthy choices.  I have found a huge motivator is that I have absolutely NO desire to go through the weight loss process again.  I do not want to work out as much as I had to, or watch my calories so critically.  The thought of being back where I was absolutely breaks my heart and that is what reminds me to make smart decisions.

Plenty of this

But this is okay sometimes too!

3.  Cook Your Own Food.  One of the top things people will say helped them lose weight was that they stopped eating out so much.  I know this is a challenge because eating out is quick, easy and tasty.  The fact of the matter is that it is much more difficult to make healthy choices at restaurants where you have a menu full of temptations.  If you think you do not know how to cook healthy I suggest subscribing to a magazine such as Cooking Light or getting recipes from sites like skinnytaste.com

Plan a weekly menu, write out a grocery list full of fruits and veggies and stick to that list at a once a week trip to the grocery store.  When I have a planned out menu and shopping list I am much more likely to only buy what I need and I do not make unhealthy impulse buys.

Stores like Trader Joe’s make it fun to shop!

4.  Every once in a while look back at old pictures of yourself.  There is nothing more inspiring to me than to look at old pictures of myself and then say “holy crap I had no idea I looked that big.”  I immediately want to go for a run or only eat salad for dinner.  I am not saying you should look at old pictures to hate yourself or how you looked, but instead they can serve as a reminder to you how you felt back then, your lack of energy  and overall health.  Be proud of what you have accomplished, the courage and discipline it took you and how good you feel now.

5.  Keep working out.  Just because you have reached your goal does not mean that you don’t have to get some form of exercise.  This can mean that you no longer need to run for 45 minutes most days but instead take up power walking or biking to get some form of exercise in that you enjoy.

Menu For the Week

Gooooood Morning everyone!  I normally blog after work but I am up early today so I thought I would see how well my brain functions at 6am.  I apologize in advance for any typos I make!

I don’t know about where you live but here this week is going to be windy, wet and all around stormy.  I am actually pretty excited to get a good storm in but I was also looking forward to running this week and judging by the wind gusts of 40 mph right now that just is not gonna happen.  I think it may be a P90x kind of day.  Don’t let the stormy weather stop your exercise, what I do is put on a favorite movie or television show and follow a workout on my computer.  The time flies by if I have something fun to watch while I exercise 🙂

Menu For the Week: 

I think my menu this week is somewhat boring, I am not trying anything new.  I am trying to use up some stuff we already have because we will be gone next week.  So bear with me as I bore you with our menu 🙂

Chicken Tamale Casserole with spinach salad

Cheeseburgers with roasted broccoli

Lightened Up Macaroni & Cheese with spinach salad

Chicken Sausage Sandwiches with roasted green beans

Pierogis with cottage cheese and broccoli

Is anyone else really excited for St. Patrick’s Day food??   I love Corned Beef, but what I really love is leftover Corned Beef Sandwiches.  We are going to a St. Patrick’s Day dinner but I am thinking I may make my own Corned Beef at home so we can have leftovers!

Thank You

I got some really amazing emails and comments from my post on Looking Healthy  Thank you so much to those of you who sent me emails or commented on that post.  Your kind words did not fall on deaf ears, I savor every word you said.  To those of you who said you struggle too, I hear you, I understand you and I support you in your quest for health, happiness and true beauty.

What I am Loving Right Now

Happy Sunday everyone 🙂  I hope your weekend has been relaxing, fun, beautiful.  Mine was fabulous, my parents came up for a night to visit and we a great and adventurous time together.  There really is never a dull moment with us, we shared an amazing meal together for lunch Saturday at the Sierra Nevada Brewery Taproom.  We are so blessed that this amazing line of beer was created and is still produced in our town of Chico.  They have a delicious restaurant at the brewery and with temps in the high 60’s we were able to sit on their gorgeous patio.

I want to kick myself for not bringing my camera and photographing the food.  All I need to say is that they added some more selections to their menu and my mom and I shared a roast beef sandwich with roasted peppers and their homemade torpedo ale cheese on it and then a Buffalo Macaroni and Cheese.  Even just thinking about it makes me want to go back again today.  If you ever find yourself in this town PLEASE eat there, I have never had a bad meal there.

I love having family come visit us, we typically head down to Sacramento to see everyone so when they can come to us it is so fun to show of our town and have company over!  We had a great time with my parents and I can’t wait til they come back!

What I am Loving Right Now

If there is one thing I know about myself it is that I go through phases.  I think it spices life up if you change things up every once in awhile, whether it be your food, exercise, clothes, music, whatever it is I like to mix it up sometimes!  I think this is kind of funny because I consider myself a fairly stable and consistent person, but mainly that is in relation to the grander things in life.  Things like jobs, relationships, duties, those things I don’t like to change but everything else is fair game!

So that is why sometimes I go through a hardcore weight lifting phase, running, or hummus or anchovies phase.  You know that saying “go big or go home?”  I would say I go big and then I go home.  So here is what I am loving right now, in another month I am sure this list will look so different!

1.  Trail Mix.  Peanuts, cashews, raisins  and dark chocolate chips.  I could eat this as every meal right now.

2.  Yoga.  Holy cow I have been missing out this whole time.  The days I do yoga my body feels so much more relaxed and comfortable.  I still do get bored after about 20-30 minutes but I am working on that.

3.  Spinach from the Farmer’s Market.  Okay, I  have been loving spinach for awhile now but the last 2 Saturdays we have been able to go to the Farmer’s Market and get our produce there.  I love that it comes with bugs on it that I have to wash off, it helps me to know that it was probably just picked that morning or day before 🙂

4.  Being okay with taking a few days off from exercise.  The last few days I worked long days, then I came home and my work came home with me.  I could hardly keep my eyes open past 9pm let alone find a minute to work out.  And you know what?  I didn’t even think twice about it, yeah it would have been nice if I was able to but I still ate healthy and got a good amount of sleep so some times you just can’t do it all 🙂  The bonus side to this is that I weighed myself this morning and I did not gain a single pound, even after a big meal at the brewery.  Even if I did it would be fine but it is always nice when you take a few days off and realize everything won’t fall apart!

5. Well I don’t just love this guy below right now, I love him all the time.  But I just want to take a moment as a proud wife to brag about him.  He is beginning a new chapter in life this next week and I am just so happy for him and proud of him.  He is the greatest guy around and I am so blessed to have such a hardworking, thoughtful and good man who loves me 🙂 And so if this sweetness doesn’t make you gag then this post will end with a picture of him, my best friend, husband, and love!

Looking Healthy

If I am being completely honest with you I have to say that one of the main motivators for me to lose weight was my desire to look good.  I think it is a very human desire to want to be accepted, desired and considered “attractive.”  Especially in today’s world what we look like has such a high value placed on it.  This forms extraordinary pressures on us and I am going to be completely bias and say ESPECIALLY on women.  Obviously I do not know what it feels like to be a man and the pressures that accompany that but I do think women are judged much more on their physical appearance.  Therefore I had deep insecurity and shame associated with what I looked like.  I so badly wanted to be the “pretty” girl that I so strongly felt I was not.  I realize how shallow and vain that is but I am human and I am guessing all you women (and men too) have at some point wanted to feel the same.  We are so tied to our appearances and so are others.  When we compliment people we compliment their clothes, their hair, skin and how attractive they are.  When was the last time you complimented someone by telling them how healthy or strong they looked?  That is why I wanted to lose weight to look good, my health was not necessarily my immediate concern.

The problem with this logic is that just losing weight does not always make you feel attractive.  Because what is considered attractive in society today is so skewed it is nearly impossible to fulfill the dreams and images we have in our heads. We are so hard on ourselves that feeling pretty may never really be attainable, but why do we have to measure ourselves on that level anyways???  I wish that looking pretty or attractive in this world meant that you looked healthy, not healthy as in you only eat 1,000 calories a day and exercise 90 minutes a day as I am pretty sure those models do,  but healthy as in you look like you went for a great run this morning but still enjoyed pepperoni pizza last night.  Because to me looking healthy is looking happy, it is looking like you take care of yourself and also enjoy yourself.  Because I know what healthy looks like I am trying really hard to stop trying to lose weight so that I feel pretty but so that I feel healthy.

I am so grateful that over time I came to appreciate my weight loss because I felt healthier.  Getting to the point where I want nice looking legs so that I can run faster not just so a sundress looks good is a struggle.  Not that there is anything wrong with wanting to be pretty or attractive, it feels good, but we need to remember that no matter how hard we try to stay young and pretty those looks can fade, but good health does not.

Spicy Malaysian Stir Fry Noodles

You HAVE to try this recipe, it was so yummy and really simple to make.  Prior to my healthy eating days I loved making Chow Mein for us but it was not necessarily the healthiest version.  When I saw this recipe on Cooking Light and it said Spicy (so I knew Aaron would enjoy it) I knew that I wanted to give it a try.

I made some adaptions of my own to make it fit our tastes and I definitely made it less spicy than the recipe called for.  3 tablespoons of the garlic chili sauce would be way too spicy for most people.  I also would say that if you are making it for children I would omit the chili sauce and then add it onto individual plates at the end. The original recipe calls for just tofu but I liked having chicken in it too, it really is one of those recipes you can add whatever suits your taste!

Spicy Malaysian Stir Fry Noodles

Adapted from here

1- 14 oz. package of water packed extra firm tofu (drained)

1 pound of Chinese Low Mein Egg Noodles (This is what the recipe calls for, I used Japanese Udon Noodles because well, that is what we bought)

1-2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

3 tbsp seame oil

4 minced garlic cloves

1/4 tsp salt

3 heads of baby bok choy cut into 2 inch strips

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp Chili Garlic Sauce such as Huy Fong *** Depending on your like for spicy you can add or subtract from this amount

2 tbsp fresh lime juice

3 tbsp low sodium soy sauce

2 tbsp Sweet Bean Sauce or Garlic Bean Sauce

Directions:

Line three layers of paper towels on a plate, place drained tofu on paper towels, covered by another 3 towels, set a plate on top.  Keep for 20 minutes and then dice tofu into small pieces.

For the Chicken:

In a medium pan heat 1 tbsp sesame oil and 1/2 tbsp soy sauce

dice chicken into small pieces

saute chicken until cooked through, set aside

For the Stir Fry:

Cook noodles according to instructions on package

Heat 2 tbsp sesame oil in large frying pan, add garlic and stir constantly for 30 seconds.  Add salt and bok choy, stir, stir in 1.2 cup of water, reduce heat and simmer for 4-5 minutes.

Combine the sugar, lime juice, chili sauce, bean sauce and 2 tbsp soy sauce in a separeate bowl.

Add noodles and 1/2 cup of water to frying pan, followed by sauce and combine.  Add in chicken and tofu and bring to med-high heat and toss until all ingredients are combine.  If necessary add more soy sauce if you like more juice to your noodles.

Lightened Up Lasagna

Lasagna is one of my tried and true favorite foods. If it is my birthday and my mom wants to know what she can make me I say lasagna, followed by more lasagna.  You really cannot go wrong with a lasagna, it is cheese, sauce, vegetables, meat, you name it and it all tastes good to me.  From scratch homemade lasagna (noodles homemade too) was the meal that a loving family friend cooked for my bridal shower, and I am pretty sure I could eat it every single day.  Well, that is if I want to gain back every single pound and probably more I would eat it every single day.  However in the name of my health I rarely make lasagna and if I do it is a huge treat and I savor every last bite.  So when I found a recipe from Food Network that was a lightened up version I hesitated, because I thought lasagna should be kept as is, high in fat and calories and high in making me happy.  But my determination that there must be a healthier way took over and I found myself in the kitchen on a glorious Saturday afternoon creating what I hoped would be a delicious lasagna.

The key to the recipe was that it combined cottage cheese and ricotta, a combination that when put in a food processor and combined with some other ingredients makes a really delicious layer to a lasagna.  It also uses a small amount of turkey (or chicken) sausage to keep the calories lower.

Sausage Lasagna

adapted from a Food Network Recipe

9 No Boil Lasagna Noodles (Or if you are like me you get home and realize you bought the boil ones and spend the next half hour boiling those)

8 Sweet or Hot Italian Turkey or Chicken Sausage

1/2 cup Onion

1-16oz. container of low fat 1% Cottage Cheese

1-15oz. container of part skim ricotta cheese

2-3 cups of fresh spinach

1/4 cup fresh chopped basil

2 scallions chopped

S&P to taste

1.5 – 2 cups of part skim shredded mozzarella cheese

Begin by removing the casings from 8 oz of hot or sweet Italian Turkey or Chicken Sauasge. In a medium pan over med-high heat coat with cooking spray and saute 1.2 cup onion and sausage until it is cooked through, crumbling the sausage up while it cooks.

In a food processor process 1-16 oz. container of low-fat 1% Cottage Cheese.  Process until it is nice and smooth.  Add in 1-15oz. container of part skim ricotta, 2-3 cups fresh spinach, 2 scallions chopped, 1/4 cup chopped basil, and season with s&p.  Process until ingredients are combined.

For the Sauce:  I used THIS recipe, my favorite Marinara but the Food Network recipe also has a recipe for the sauce, I prefer my own though 🙂

To assemble:

Coat a 13×9 pan with cooking spray and 1/2 cup of sauce spread over the bottom.

Add 3 noodles and about 1/4-1/2 cup of the ricotta mixture.  *The original recipe called for half the mixture but I felt this was too much and I ended up only using about half in total and froze the rest.

Layer with half the sausage and 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese.  Repeat with another layer of sauce, noodles, ricotta, last of the sausage and cheese.  For the final layer add noodles, sauce and cover with cheese.

Cover with Foil at bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, then remove foil and bake an additional 15 minutes until cheese is bubbling.

Now this is the part where I may lose some of you…You will need to resist every urge inside of you to cut a piece that is well, half of the pan.  Instead cut yourself a piece that is about the size of your fist and serve along with a salad with dark leafy greens!

 

Spring Exercise

I love this time of year, where the days reach 75 degrees and I am comfortable in a tank top!  I also love it because it means perfect weather for exercising outside.  Yesterday we went for a hike and it was beautiful.

Even if hiking is not an option for you there are plenty of ways to bask in the beautiful Spring weather while moving your body.  Gardening, spring cleaning or just simple strolls after meals are great ways to burn a few calories and get your Vitamin D!