A tale of a frozen family

So hubby and I got on the weight loss wagon again.   He’s doing Atkins… I’m doing sensible eating.   I can’t do Atkins.  My blood sugar plummets through the floor and I just don’t think it’s healthy!  But it works for him (quite well and quite rapidly I might add!).   You know those commercials about the woman’s weight loss supplement, where she talks about she gave up everything and he gave up soda??  She lost her boobs and he lost 50 pounds??  THAT’S ME!    He can drop weight like that… and I struggle for each and every ounce.   Welcome to the doom of hypothyroid!   But I digress!

A dear friend of mine ordered me a subscription to this magazine.  I can’t recommend it enough!  It’s filled with tons of really great recipes.   Lots of articles on organic eating, gardening, etc.   If you get a chance I highly recommend it!

And for you low carbers… here is a favorite in this house.   I’m actually going to make it for our neighbors on friday night, since hubby bragged it up so much.   Two thumbs up!  We originally saw it on Rachel Ray, but I’ve done some modifying since then.

• 3/4  pounds ground turkey breast, 3/4 pounds lean ground beef 
• Salt and pepper
• 6 crimini mushrooms (baby portobellos), stems removed and finely chopped
• 1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed away from skin and finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano or Romano cheese (a couple of handfuls)
• A handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped
• Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), for drizzling
  
• 4 large portobello mushroom caps, stems removed
• Coarse salt and black pepper
• 2 cups arugula leaves, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 pound fresh mozzarella or fresh smoked mozzarella, thinly sliced
• Sliced red onion and sliced yellow and plum tomatoes, for garnish

Preparation

Pre-heat oven to 450°F. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.Combine meat with salt and pepper, chopped crimini mushrooms, chopped bell pepper, chopped onion, garlic, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, crushed red pepper flakes, cheese and parsley. Score and form meat into four large 1-inch thick patties.Wash your hands after handling the raw poultry.Drizzle EVOO on top of the patties, then fry 5-6 minutes on each side in the hot skillet.Place portobello caps on a small baking sheet gill side up and drizzle EVOO over them. Roast the caps 12 minutes. Remove them from the oven and season them with salt and pepper.

Turn the oven off. Top each cap with about 1/2 cup arugula and a burger. Cap burger with mozzarella and place back in the still-warm oven. Melt the cheese for one minute.

Transfer burgers on “bun” bottoms to plates. Top with onions and tomatoes and serve.

ENJOY!

Has anybody else been watching this?

It’s an english gentleman who is giving a 5 or 6 weeks series on TLC about weight loss. He has some pretty unorthodox approaches, but I figure.. you know what… it certainly can’t hurt! So hubby and I have both been trying to follow his principles for the last couple of weeks.

You can read all about it here:

Basically, his first week he covered the basics of the program.

Don’t deprive yourself of anything. When you are hungry… eat. Eat what you want, not what you think you should eat. But most importantly, eat consciously…. meaning, eat with no distractions (no tv, no radio, no reading, etc.). Studies have shown that people who eat at the computer, or in front of the television eat on average, 30% more than people who do not.

His methods are simple. Take a bite, put down your fork. Chew that bite for at least 20 chews. Savory the food. EAT SLOWLY. Listen for cues from your stomach. As soon as your stomach *thinks* it’s full…. STOP EATING. If you are hungry 20 minutes later, eat something… but listen to your stomach.

Hubby and I have been doing this for a little over a week and I can honestly say that I think we are both eating significantly less.

He doesn’t encourage weighing any more often than every 2 weeks. He feels we place too much emotion on what the scale says. So, I’m going to go one more week and then weigh and see what the results are.

In the spirit of shedding pounds and getting healthier, I’m going to try and post one healthy recipe a week

This week I’m doing citrus halibut! SOOOOOOOO good!

INGREDIENTS
1/3 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1/2-3/4 teaspoon grated orange peel
4 (4 ounce) halibut fillets
1/4 cup orange juice (I use fresh squeezed and then use the peel for zest)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS
In a nonstick skillet coated with nonstick cooking spray, saute onion and garlic until tender; remove from the heat. Stir in parsley and orange peel. Place halibut in an 8-in. square baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Top with onion mixture. Combine orange and lemon zest and lemon juices; pour over fish. Sprinkle with salt and ground pepper. Cover and bake at 400 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals 142 calories, 3 g fat (trace saturated fat), 36 mg cholesterol, 237 mg sodium, 4 g carbohydrate, trace fiber, 24 g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 3 very lean meat, 1 vegetable.

Since I’ve been kind of a slack azz in the focused weight loss arena in the last few months/years/decades I figured instead of focusing on ME ME ME… the one thing I could do would be to share a low fat recipe that is tried and true with others… and then perhaps others could do the same.

If I can’t be hard core weight buster, I can at least help others to get healthier.. with what I KNOW.. versus what I do!

Here is my latest though… which I have been using every day. You see… we gave up all artificial sweeteners and high fructose corn syrup in this house. A very big leap for this diet pepsi aholic. I have replaced it with home made lemonade, made with Stevia… What is Stevia???

Stevia-From a South American plant called Stevia, this herb has an abundance of positive effects. The whole leaf contains numerous phytonutrients and trace minerals and is much sweeter than sugar with out negative effects. It can sweeten with no calories, no carbohydrates, no tooth decay and is diabetic safe. Stevia nourishes the pancreas and does not raise blood glucose levels, making it not only safe for diabetics but also beneficial. (Source: www.alacarb.com/glossary.html)

GOOD STUFF! I works wonderful!

Here’s my stevia lemonade recipe… very simple.

I juice 6 or so lemons (to get 2 cups of juice) I mix that with six to eight cups of water.. depending on how “potent” the lemons are and then mix in a couple of teaspoons of stevia powder. I taste. If it’s still a little bitter, I mix a little more stevia, until a yummy mixture is achieved. Easy Peasey… and GOOD FOR YOU! AND… virtually no calories.

I’m moving back into the saddle pretty well.  Hubby is also on board with improving the ol eating habit thing too, since he stepped on the scale and got a cold dose of reality.  I now know where that “Reality bites” comes from!

My goal is to cut out all artificial sweeteners and high fructose corn syrup.   It’s tough going for this serious diet pepsi junkie.  I have recently discovered Stevia.  It has none of the risks of artificial sweeteners, it does not effect blood sugars, and it’s non caloric.  We got some today and are going to try it out.    You can read about it here:  http://www.stevia.net/

Aside from that… the trip to the scale SUCKED :(  All that crappy eating finally got up with me on the scale and lets just say, I’m depressed.  But… you gotta hit rock bottom before you can climb back up.. . right? 

So… with that, I’m going to go feel sorry for myself now and eat some low fat worms

Oy vey.  I’ve been BAD.. very bad! 

I don’t know what it is about recovering from illness/surgery that makes me eat so bad.. but I’ve been BAD!  (Have I mentioned I’ve been bad?)

 So.  Since I’ve been horrible this week (I am SOOOOO going back to meetings Tuesday!)  here is a recipe I tried this morning.  It was sooooo good!

Crockpot Oatmeal Recipe2 cups steel cut oats (not instant or rolled oats)
6-8 cups water, depending on how long the oatmeal will cook
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 apples, peeled and diced
1 cup raisins
1 cup sliced bananas
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Spray crockpot with nonstick cooking spray. If you’re planning to cook the oatmeal 8 hours or longer, use 8 cups of water. If you want to cook it less than 8 hours, use 6 cups of water. Put first seven ingredients (through raisins) in slow cooker and cook on low. Just before serving, Stir in bananas and walnuts. Sprinkle with additional brown sugar if desired.

Now… I did not add any brown sugar, or the banana’s or nuts.  I don’t think the sugar is needed…. it was really sweet from the raisins and apples.  Which also drastically changes the calories, fat and carbs… but I’ve not “rerun” the stats.

Emma also loved it and scarfed down two bowls this morning.   Kid tested and approved!

So there you have it.  I’ve done my good deed to healthy eating society.  I must now jump back on that wagon!

I joined weight watchers back in November with my neighbor across the street.  I went to my first meeting, and then BOOM… got sick :(  I’ve not been back since.

My surgery is scheduled for tomorrow, which hopefully will be the end of the sickness… and the beginning of getting back on my feet!  Which also means the return of my attendance to weight watchers!   I will use my “weigh in Wednesdays” to report my progress. 

I’d love for anybody who’s battling the bulge to record their progress on those days too! 

The unbelievable thing is that in the last 2 months of laying around, eating far too many points… I’ve only gained 4 pounds.  REALLY… that IS  a miracle!

Soooo, here’s to improved health, recovered bodies and getting back on the wagon!  Wish me luck tomorrow!!

And since I can’t have a post to this blog, without some sort of picture… I mind as well use the spawn… because I can’t put the camera down.  I don’t think she’ll be blind forever.

But she sure is cute… and in desperate need of chapstick!

I’m sure some day she’ll forgive me for the ever present flash in her face.