It's been awhile - but I've hit a new goal!

Last week I finally got below the 200 mark! I've now lost a total of 57 pounds. I'm not done yet, but it's great to have come so far! Above are before after shots!

Hit the 50 pound mark...

Happy to say that last week I hit the 50 pound weight loss mark. This is the most weight I've ever lost on any diet, and it's easy! I have been slipping a little here and there but just get right back on track. I really don't know for sure how much more I want to lose, it depends on how I look and what size I'm in as I go. I'm thinking 30 more pounds. Wouldn't it be nice if I could lose 30 pounds in two weeks like those people on the Biggest Loser!? Ha! I'm losing 1-2 pounds per week so I am definitely going to be dieting a few more months.

40 pounds gone

Started this diet on April 19 and today, August 7 I am down 40 pounds. I am halfway there. Still loving the low carb diet and still working out six days a week. My latest treat is a low carb protein smoothie. I bought vanilla protein powder and add everything from cocoa and a teaspoon of peanut butter to fresh strawberries to make the most delicious smoothies! Once I get them made, they are anywhere from 8-12 carbs, so a little high in carb count for a snack or even breakfast. Still, a nice break from eggs. More to come soon!

3 months / 35 pounds lost

This morning I weighed myself and I have lost a total of 35 pounds. I started this diet on April 19 and so in just three months, I've lost 35 pounds! I hope I can lose 35 pounds in the next three months!

Check out the before and after pics. Just look at our faces! What a transformation! I think we look so much better!

Still here

Well, I made it through vacation without gaining any weight! I was very worried about that. We'd bought the Disney Dining Plan and had reservations in all these great restaurants. I was so afraid I'd blow it but I did just fine. Then, we spent the next week in Ohio at my parents. I came home a week then spent 4 days in San Antonio for a work conference. I feel like I'm finally done with all the travelling and can get back to business losing this weight!

When we'd left for vacation, I'd lost exactly 30 pounds. Since then, I've lost 2 more. Not a huge loss, but again I'm just glad I didn't gain!

I've been working out and we re-joined the YMCA yesterday. I'd just been doing Wii Fit at home and it's time to step it up. While at the conference hotel, I did 2 miles on the elliptical each day. I need to get a workout schedule going at the Y - I may go over there in the morning.

Still loving the low carb life style. I am eating really great food and I'm not starving!

met my first goal!

My mini-goal was to lose 30 lbs by vacation. We leave today, and I've lost 30 lbs! I was sooooo pleased when I weighed this morning!

I have no time - leaving for airport in 1hour. Will post later!

Still here - 22 pounds lighter and counting

From last Friday 5/22 to Friday 5/29 I lost 2.2 pounds. In the beginning of that week I had hit a stall, and that was annoying! But, later in the week the scale started moving in the other direction so that was good.

One of my favorite foods is chicken wings, but even with their low carb characteristics, I just can't think they're really good for me. So, we've been experimenting at home. Same flavors, healthier preparation. We take boneless, skinless chicken breasts or tenders and season them and fry them in a skillet. Then, we pull them out, chop them into bite size pieces. First we made a hot sauce (butter, hot sauce, worcestershire sauce) to drop the cooked chicken bites in - very good. That with celery sticks and ranch dressing was a nice casual supper. Then, the other night, George mimicked this garlic parmesan sauce I love! He sautéed garlic in butter, and put the chicken in that. Then, he'd put some parmesan cheese in a deep mixing bowl so he put the chicken in there and tossed it in the cheese. It was delicious!

Other than that, we're experimenting with other low carb foods. I've ordered some things from netrition.com and have mixed reviews. The low carb pancakes and syrup are pretty good. The no carb BBQ sauce was awful (I'm going to try to make my own next time, more on that to come.) I also tried low carb apple cinnamon muffins - pretty good, but I think it was like 4 carbs for one little muffin.

Next week my sister and her family are coming for a visit and I want to try out my low carb homemade ice cream recipe while they're here. I'll try to post pictures and a review!

20 pounds!

Just here to write a celebratory post about losing 20 pounds! I had lost 16 pounds at the one month mark, a few days ago and I was stalling there for a few days. Then the last couple days I started losing again!

Love this diet, it's really the easiest diet in the world for me!

One month in

well, I started this diet one month ago today and I'm happy to say it's going well. It's definitely the easiest diet I've ever been on, in terms of sticking with it and not feeling starved all the time.

And, the best part is, I've lost 16 pounds! (I've been stuck here at -16 for a few days, grrr).

I love the food I'm eating and it's so realistic for me. I don't miss the carbs much at all!

Green Tea and Water

That's what I drink - green tea has replaced my beloved morning coffee with the french vanilla creamer and I drink water all day long after that. I have had an occasional diet soda or ice tea, but mostly water. And now that I'm giving my body the water it needs, I sort of crave it, if that makes sense.

According to wiki, below are some of the health benefits associated with drinking green tea:

• Anti-cancer properties
• Increases metabolic rate
• Possible anti-diabetes effect
• Boosts mental alertness
• Boosts immune system
• Lowers stress hormone levels
• Effects on bad breath

Other changes that are no doubt making me feel better include (1) working out everyday - I do Wii Fit so it's not extremely hard, but I do it every morning at 6 am and get my blood pumping for 30 minutes to start my day and (2) I don't suffer from heartburn, hardly ever - since I've been eating low carb. I have a bottle of Rolaids on my headboard and I used to pop 3 or 4 at night to be able to lay down and go to sleep. Now, I rarely touch the bottle, and when I do I take just 1 Rolaid if I feel a little heart-burny. It's awesome!

3 weeks

Today marked the third week of my diet. With my ups and downs (or should I say downs and ups?) I've lost a total of 13 pounds!

Yay!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! Today was an interesting day. We got a late start for breakfast so decided to turn it into a brunch. First, George fried up some bacon while I chopped mushrooms, peppers, onions, tomatoes and ham for omelets. Then, I made french toast (for the kids) while George made omelets. My omelet was loaded, and with bacon on the side made for a huge breakfast.

A few hours later, a friend of ours called and invited us to the park for a Mother's Day cookout along with a few other families. Since it was sort of impromptu, I wasn't sure what to bring. I settled on a salad of tomato/basil/green onion tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper.

The cookout was great - I had chicken, a hot dog, mushrooms (cooked in some hot seasoning, yum), and my tomato basil salad. Had to pass up chips, corn on the cob, cookies, and many other tasty looking treats. Also, I had two Michelob Ultra beers (2.6 carbs each).

When I got home I wasn't really too hungry but had a sweet tooth. I had an Atkins Shake (1 carb) so I think I'm done for the day!

Came in right around 19 carbs today.

The pic I'm posting is last nights dinner - Crab cakes, squash/zucchini, and a tomato slice.

Here's the crab cake recipe - a little different than the previous one I posted.

Crab Cakes

3 cans crab meat
1 T chopped pepper
1 T chopped parsley
1 T mayo
1egg
1 T baking powder
1 T worcestershire sauce
1 t sage
1 t thyme

Mix together and fry in oil til cooked. Combine equal parts of mayo and hot spice mustard for the sauce.

Also, sauteed some onion and garlic then added the squash/zucchini with olive oil, salt and pepper, it made a tasty side!

I'm still here!

I haven't been keeping up with my daily food blogs, mostly because (1) I fell off the wagon a day or two while my sister was in town and (2) I've been repeating menus from the first two weeks so nothing too new. I think it's hard to eat out on this diet, I know a lot of people would disagree, but we ate at a mexican restaurant last weekend and since I love chips and tortillas, I felt very deprvied! Ha! But I actually didn't cheat there (except for that one single chip). But during the weekend I had some broccoli casserole (with rice), a few beers at the Kenny Chesney concert, and Sonic onion rings during the long weekend Em was here and I gained 2 pounds. Argh! Anyway, I got right back on the wagon this week and lost those two. So, total weight loss still = 12 pounds.

So on this diet I eat scrambled eggs about every day. And I like eggs, but get a little tired. So I found a low-carb pancake mix on http://www.netrition.com/. It is called Big Train Buttermilk Pancake and Waffle Mix, I believe. I also bought some no carb DaVinci syrup. The pancakes are still 7 net carbs for 1/4 c mix, but it was a nice treat. And, pretty good. The syrup was no Mrs. Butterworths, but it was ok. On a 'normal' day I wouldn't consume 7 carbs at breakfast (8 with my morning tea) but once a week I think I'll go for it. George and I were talking and decided we could probably do a brunch some morning and have these pancakes, bacon and eggs and we wouldn't be hungry again til dinner. Anyway, I'm posting a picture showing how 1/4 c pancake mix looks all prepared on my plate this morning.

I'll be back as I weigh myself and as I try new recipes.

Day Twelve- Thursday April 30

This was an important day because it was my first time eating out since I started the diet. Therefore, I am not even attempting to count carbs, I have no clue. (But I did weigh myself today and I've lost another 1.5 pounds so I'm doing ok!)

Breakfast:

2 eggs, scrambled, with cheese

1 cup peppermint tea, packet of splenda

Lunch:

Tuna Salad

1 Atkins Bar - my first one, yum

Dinner:

Ate at Babba Bruno's - it was great.

I had this grilled shrimp (5) in a garlicy oil and grilled veggies, like zuchini and squash. There were potatoes on my plate but I didn't eat them. Oh, and I had a small dinner salad, that I would guess had some kind of balsamic vingarette on it. I also ignored the bread - that was hard!

Day Eleven - Wednesday April 29

Almost through my first menu - Friday is grocery day. Overall, I am really liking this diet. The food we've been eating is real food, and tastes good. And I'm not starving all the time like I am when I try eating low-cal, low-fat. Total carbs for today, about 17.

Breakfast:

2 eggs, scrambled with cheese

1 cup hot green tea, with splenda

Lunch:

crab cake (see recipe from last night)
few green beans
1 cucumber, sliced

1 can Minute Maid Light Lemonade

Dinner:

Pork Chops

Tomato / Basil / Mozarella Cheese salad (mix those things with a little EVOO, salt and pepper)

Snack:

1 cup hot peppermint tea

Sugar Free Jello

10 pounds lost...

Ok, so I said I'm just going to weigh on Sunday, but I lied. I weighed myself today and my total weight loss is now 10 pounds!

Now, just need to do that 7 more times. Ha ha ha

Day Ten - Tuesday April 28

Here's today's menu and carb count was approx 21...

Breakfast:

2 eggs, scrambled, with cheese

1 cup green tea with 1 packet of splenda

Lunch:

2 chicken strips (see last night's dinner)
1/4 c steamed broccoli

1 can Minute Maid Light lemonade

Dinner:

Crab Cakes

2 cans crab meat
1 tablespoon chopped anaheim pepper
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 tablespoon heavy mayonnaise
1 egg
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
spices (?)
2 tablespoons oil
Mustard Sauce, recipe follows

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients, except oil and Mustard Sauce until blended. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. With a tablespoon, carefully spoon poker-chip size mini-cakes into the pan. (The batter will be very loose since there are no bread crumbs, but once the egg in the mix starts to cook they will hold together fine.) Cook on 1 side until firm, about 2 minutes, and then flip and cook for about 1 more minute. Cook in batches as necessary. Serve hot with mustard sauce.

Mustard Sauce:

1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup brown spicy mustard

Mix ingredients together in a small bowl. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Frozen Green Beans (very small serving)

Snacks:

Attended another retirement party today and had about four cheese cubes.
1/2 c Breyers Carb Smart ice cream (note, this is about $5 at Kroger, $2.75 at Walmart)

Day Nine - Monday April 27

Approximate carbs today = 18

Breakfast:

1 Hard Boiled Egg

2 cups hot tea (with splenda)

Lunch:

Tuna Salad

1 can tuna
mayo
celery
boiled egg
onion
1 packet sweet and low

Sugar Free Jello

Dinner:

Crunchy Chicken with Ranch Sauce

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 c crushed spicy pork rinds
1-2 eggs
4 oz cream cheese
1/2 packet of dry ranch seasoning
1-2 T heavy cream
1-2 T oil

Heat oil in frying pan. Dip chicken breasts in egg and roll in crushed pork rinds. Fry til crispy and cooked through. In seperate pan warm cream cheese until soft. Add heavy cream until thick but sauce consistency. Stir in ranch dressing.

Broccoli

Package of frozen broccoli, boiled

Serve cooked broccoli with ranch sauce over top

Deviled Eggs

Sugar Free Jello

My review: We'd done this dinner before, we all like it a lot.

Snacks:

I attended a retirement party at work and had some cheese cubes, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, and broccoli. Then, my late night snack was a few pepperoni slices.

Day Eight - Sunday April 26

I've had a crazy Monday and am trying to record Sunday - not good! To the best of my recollection, this is yesterday's food diary, approx 16 carbs.

Breakfast:

Veggie omlet - 2 eggs with onion, green pepper, and mushrooms

2 cups of tea (with packet of sweet and low)

Lunch:

Sausage Cheese Balls

1 lb pork sausage
1 lb hot pork sausage
1 c. crushed pork rinds
1/2 c finely chopped onion
1 c. cheese
Franks Hot sauce to your taste
Garlic and pepper to taste

Mix it all together and roll into 1 inch balls. This should yield 40-45 balls. Bake on 375 until lightly browned, then turn balls over to brown other side.

Salad - iceberg lettuce, tomato, onion and ranch dressing

My review: Sausage balls were okay, not my favorite, but family liked them very much.

Dinner:

We were busy all day and didn't really eat dinner. So I snacked:

Breyers Low Carb Ice Cream (1/2 cup)
Sugar-Free Jello
pepperoni slices

Weekly Weigh In

Decided to weigh every Sunday morning. Did so today and total weight loss for week one is 8.4 pounds!

Day seven - Saturday April 25

I've mentioned before that weekends are hard for me to diet because I'm tempted to cook and eat all day. Today was an exception. I wasn't particulary busy, but we had three very good meals and I came in around 17 carbs for the day.

Breakfast

Omlette

2 eggs
onion
mushroom
tomato
pepper
cheese

and 3 slices of bacon, and 2 cups of tea (2 packets of sweet and low)

Lunch

Tuna Salad

3 pouches tuna
1 boiled egg
mayo
celery
1 packet sweet and low
large lettuce leaves

George made the tuna salad, I piled some on a lettuce leaf and rolled that up to eat. It was so good! I had two tuna salad 'wraps'.

Dinner

Buffalo Chicken Bites

Boneless skinless chicken tenders
3 T butter
hot sauce
cayenne pepper
poultry seasoning
salt

Season chicken with cayenne pepper, poultry seasoning, and salt. Cook in skillet on stovetop. In separate pan, melt butter and add the amount of hot sauce you'd like - I like it hot! When the chicken has cooked through, pull it out and chop into bite size pieces. Stick a toothpick through each piece and toss back into skillet. Pour buffalo sauce from other pan over chicken, toss, serve.

Celery Sticks
Ranch Dressing

My review: Wow, this doesn't even feel like a diet! Cory even said "This is diet food!?" But the only carbs in our dinner came from the celery sticks and ranch dressing. This was a great Saturday night dinner.

Snack:

1/2 cup of Breyer's Carb Smart Chocolate Ice Cream

Day Six - Friday April 24

I only work every other Friday, so I was off this week. Any diet is harder for me when I'm home - I'm much more tempted to snack! But I pulled it off okay, esp. since I was happy about my weight loss so far. Amazing how a little success motivates you! Made it through Friday with an estimated 18 carbs...

Breakfast

2 eggs, scrambled - topped with cheese and bacon
1 cup of hot tea (with a packet of sweet and low)

Lunch

2 meat and cheese wraps (recipe on day one blog entry)

Dinner

Salmon Patties

1 can of salmon (pick out the yucky stuff)
2 eggs
2 T minced onion
2 T finely chopped celery
spices - I used paprika, salt, italian seasoning, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and lemon pepper
dash or two of hot sauce
3 T butter

Mix ingredients together and melt butter in skillet, fry salmon cakes in butter.

Broccoli / Bacon Salad

4 c broccoli tops
6 slices bacon, cooked, cooled and crumbled
1/2 c sliced red onion
1/2 - 1 c mayo
2 T white wine vinegar (I had red wine vinegar and used it)
2 packets of splenda (I used sweet and low)

Steam broccoli to crisp but tender, drain and rinse in cool water to stop cooking. Drain well. Mix mayo, vinegar, and splenda to make dressing. Add broccoli, bacon and red onion, mix.

My review: Salmon cakes were very good! Will make again. Broccoli salad was awesome, I would make this and serve at a cookout it was so good!

Snack:

2 pieces of turkey, 1 cup of hot tea (with a packet of sweet and low)

First recorded weight loss

I started my diet last Sunday, and I read that carbs stay in your body for 2 days, so I didn't bother weighing myself those first couple days. I thought I'd actually wait until Sunday, the one week mark. But today I was doing my Wii Fit so I went ahead a weighed and I've lost 6.6 pounds! Yay! So glad to see I've made progress!

Day Five - Thursday April 23

I am finding this diet very reasonable to stick with, unlike all the low-cal, low-fat diets I've ever done before. Those diets left me starving all the time. With this diet, I am hungry from time to time, but not miserably so, and I can find low carb snacks to satisfy when needed.

Also, I wrote a few days ago about giving up coffee. I had a dull headache for a couple days, but today I think I am going to feel fine without the 2-3 cups of coffee my body was used to getting each morning. What a good habit to break! Instead, I've been drinking peppermint tea (no carbs) with a splenda packet to sweeten. It's very good.

So, on to the food journal... Made it through Thursday with an estimated 17 carbs!

Breakfast

2 eggs, scrambled with cheddar cheese and real bacon bits

Lunch

Creamy Mushroom Soup (see recipe on yesterday's entry)
Salad (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, onion, cheese, bacon, italian dressing)

Dinner

Taco Salad (no shell)

1 lb ground meat (seasoned with chili powder, paprika, hot sauce)
lettuce
tomato
onion
cheddar cheese

My review: Easy and yummy and filling. Assemble lettuce, tomato,onion, and cheese on plate and top with the spicy taco meat. This is very low carb, so you can really eat your fill.

*Another note, the kids had taco shells and made real tacos, we don't want them to be so low carb they start losing weight! Plus, they're eating other carbs for breakfast and lunch.

Day Four - Wednesday April 22

Day Four of my diet, a few more carbs than I'm allowed, but pretty good. Approx net carbs = 22

Breakfast:

Two eggs, scrambled with cheese and bacon sprinkled on top

Lunch:

Creamy Mushroom Soup

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 small onion, coarsely chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 pound mixed mushrooms, sliced
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 cups lower sodium vegetable broth
1/2 cup dry sherry
1 cup heavy cream

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over high heat. Add onion and sauté until soft, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add mushrooms, salt and pepper; sauté until soft and light brown, about 10 minutes. Add broth and sherry; simmer to allow flavors to blend, about 5 minutes.2. Transfer soup to a blender. Holding blender lid down firmly with a folded kitchen towel, blend at low speed to purée (you may have to work in batches). Return soup to saucepan; bring back to a simmer over medium heat. Add cream and simmer, stirring constantly, until soup is thick, about 5 minutes. Serve right away or refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Reheat before serving.

Tip: Feel free to add a small side salad to make this a complete lunch

My review: This was the best soup I've ever had in my life. Seriously. Delicious. I halfed the recipe (from the Atkins site) because I'm the only one in my family who would eat this. It was awesome. I measured out a cup to bring to work and had a side salad. Great lunch.

Dinner:

Tilapia - George seasoned it and baked it, very easy

Celery/Cucumber salad

Deviled Eggs

My review: The fish was very good, I don't remember what he put on it, but yum! The celery/cucumber salad was good, it was a few veggies chopped up with oil and vinegar. And I always like deviled eggs.

Snacks:

I'd read about Breyer's Carb Smart (low carb ice cream) when I was looking for a low carb ice cream recipe for my ice cream maker. Picked some up at WalMart for $2.75. It was great!

Day Three - Tuesday April 21

Day three already. I read that your body stores carbs for two days, so today, I should no longer have carbs burning for energy - let the fat burning begin!

Another intersting note about today, I gave up coffee. That is HUGE for me. I love my coffee, and I love high carb flavored creamers that I put in it. I drank coffee the first two days with a teaspoon of non dairy creamer and a packet of sweetner. Not the same. Today, I had tea instead and I enjoyed it. So I'm thinking I'm giving up coffee for good, at least for now!

Also, I did Wii Fit for 30 minutes. I'm the worst at working out, but Wii Fit is kinda fun and since I'm not exactly in shape, 30 minutes gets my heart pumping! I'm going to try to walk a couple nights a week and do Wii Fit a couple times a week so I have some exercise going on...

So, here's today's menu, I came in around 15 carbs, I think:

Breakfast:

2 eggs scrambled, with a little cheese and bacon on top.

Lunch:

leftovers from last nights dinner - 2 chicken tenders and some broccoli

Dinner:

Pork Chops (George seasoned them with a rub and cooked them in a skillet)

Tomato/Basil salad

4 Tomatoes
Basil
Mozzarella Cheese
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper

Chop the tomatoes and drain some of the juice off them. Chop or tear basil leaves and add to tomatoes. (I used about six leaves, I love basil!) Drizzle with olive oil, add in a little cheese (1/2 cup) and salt and pepper and toss.

Zuchinni

We had a zuchinni recipe that flopped. George diced the zuchinni, dipped it in egg then parmesan cheese and put it on a sprayed baking sheet and baked 30 minutes. Came out burnt and stuck to the baking sheet. But, I salvaged a few, and they were yummy. I'll try this again with a different pan, (greased) and bake a shorter time!

My review: Pork chops, delicious. Tomato/Basil salad, delicious. Zuchinni, challenged.

Snacks:

I didn't actually snack too much, that I can recall. Had some celery sticks dipped in ranch dressing. I drank water like crazy today so maybe that's why?

Homemade Ice Cream

So, yesterday was my 36th birthday and I'd asked for a homemade ice cream maker (before I decided to do this diet). So, I got what I wanted, but the diet...

I looked online for low carb ice cream recipes and found the recipe below. I'm going to wait until after Induction to try it, I think. Then, I'll post a review. Gives me something to look forward to:

Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup half-and-half
1 cup Splenda
1/2 cup ice cold water
1 tsp vanilla
dash salt

Mix all thoroughly and put it into your ice cream maker. Turn on and watch for about 25 minutes - it should slow to a halt when it's thick enough.

Makes 4 servings
3g carbs per serving

*If you use Splenda in packets, be sure to adjust accordingly! The packets are a different level of sweetness compared to normal bulk Splenda.

Day Two - Monday April 20

Today was hard - it's my birthday - never good to be on a diet on your birthday! Still, I did ok, approx carbs = 18.

Breakfast:

Scrambled Eggs

2 eggs
real bacon bits
shredded cheddar cheese

Scramble eggs, then sprinkle a little cheese and real bacon bits on top. Yum!

My review: Awesome

Lunch:

2 slices of Pork Loin (see yesterday's dinner)
Small salad with iceburg lettuce, 1/2 tomato, red onion, and italian dressing

My review: Pork was good leftover, and salad was very tasty.

Dinner:

Crunchy Chicken with Ranch Sauce

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 c crushed spicy pork rinds
1-2 eggs
4 oz cream cheese
1/2 packet of dry ranch seasoning
1-2 T heavy cream
1-2 T oil

Heat oil in frying pan. Dip chicken breasts in egg and roll in crushed pork rinds. Fry til crispy and cooked through. In seperate pan warm cream cheese until soft. Add heavy cream until thick but sauce consistency. Stir in ranch dressing.

Broccoli

Package of frozen broccoli, boiled

Serve cooked broccoli with rancy sauce over top

Deviled Eggs (3)

Sliced tomato (1 slice)

My review: Wonderful dinner!

Snacks:

1 jalepeno pickle

pork rinds

Day One - Sunday April 19

So I'm a day behind posting this already. Here's what I had to eat on Day One of the Atkins diet. I think I did ok... All the recipes below were found online. I think my total net carbs for the day was about 19...

Breakfast:

'Induction Breakfast'

4 eggs
4 ounces cream cheese (softened 30 seconds inmicrowave)
2 ounces heavy cream (I used half and half)
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
½ tsp. melted butter
3-4 packets Splenda (I used Sweet and Low)

Combine & pour into small greased baking dish. 20-30 minutes at 350º.

My review: It was ok, I ate a 1/4 of it. Kinda like a custard to me, just not my favorite.

Lunch:

I was heading out the door, so I made these up real quick - 'Meat and Cheese Rolls'

6 thin slices ham/turkey
6 slices swiss cheese
6 half-sour pickle spears
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons mustard
2 large lettuce leaves (optional)

1. Trim ham, cheese and pickles to equal lengths. Lay out ham slices, top with cheese slices.2. Combine mayo and mustard; spread onto cheese. Lay pickle in center and roll up tightly.3. You can roll these into lettuce leaves or cut into bite-sized pieces.

Note: I made two for lunch, used ham and american cheese and dill/jalapeno pickles. No mustard or mayo for me.

My review: Very good - not very filling, though. I guess I was pretty hungry.

Dinner:

Roasted Pork Loin

Boneless Half Pork Loin
Olive oil
3 cloves garlic
sage
salt
pepper
chicken broth
butter

Chop garlic cloves. Combine olive oil, garlic, sage, salt and pepper. Pat dry pork loin with paper towel. Rub oil and spices over pork, put in roasting dish. Bake at 400 for 45 min. Remove pork from dish, set on cutting board. Pour about half cup of broth into roasting dish and scrape up all the good bits and pieces in the pan. Pour that into a small saucepan and cook about ten minutes. Add 2 teaspoons of butter. Slice pork and pour sauce over top of each serving.

AND

Mock Mashed Potatoes (it's really cauliflower)

1 1 lb bag of frozen cauliflower
handful shredded cheddar cheese
sour cream
3 0z cream cheese
pepper

Boil cauliflower for thirty minutes. Drain, add cheeses and pepper, mash like potatoes. Top with sour cream to serve.

My review: I loved both!

Late night snack:

Late night snacking has always been a problem! I had a pickle, and some pepperoni slices to satisfy my late night hunger.

Starting Atkins Diet

Well, I know the "Atkins fad" is over, but I have been researching it and discovered it's alive and well. I used to think it seemed so unrealistic and unhealthy, but really, it's not! I researched for a couple weeks, got Dr. Atkin's book from the library, read various websites, etc. and decided this might work for me. So I'm going to try. I'm too embarassed to put my weight here, but I'll say I have about 80 pounds to lose.

First, let me explain how I grocery shop. I only shop twice per month. Before shopping, I get the grocery store ad, clip new coupons and throw out expired ones, and make my list. Then, from the sale items on the list, I see what I'm buying that will become meals. Then, I fill in the rest of my days with other meals and add those items to the list. My list is very comprehensive, but it works. I don't have to run back to the store hardly ever and we have our meals all planned out for two plus weeks. Also, we don't eat out much because there is always a meal already planned for us to make. We love to cook, so that helps. Grocery shopping is an ordeal, though, it takes a good few hours from making the list, cutting the coupons, planning the meals, going to the store, etc. The coupons are something I've always done though, and between using the grocery ad to shop sale items and the coupons, I save on average 30% off the total bill. Not bad.

So, once I decided to start the Atkins diet, we still had a weeks worth of meals planned. During that week, I started really looking at recipes I could use during Induction (first phase of Atkins). This weekend was the hardest grocery list I ever made, because we're changing our diets so much! Still, we did it. I plan to post every day the first couple weeks so the recipes (and my reviews) will be here for me (and anyone else) to look at for future ideas.

So, here we go...