Sharks and Dragons

Day 12 of my Whole45 and I am doing well!!

OK, I am struggling a little bit.  In the bujo world (this is a little TMI) this is called Shark Week, so my Sugar Dragon is coming out and wanting to attack.  I'm a little tired and battling with a mild headache.  It started yesterday, so I went to bed early in spite of it being Valentine's Day.  I got close to 10 hours of sleep last night!! 

I was too broke to buy anything for my sweetheart, but I cooked him a good meal and gave him my first drawing that I've done. 

I can't draw to save my life, but that doesn't mean I'm not trying to learn!  He was impressed :)  He didn't believe me at first that, besides using a compass to draw the circles themselves, everything else was done freehand!!  I'm happy that he liked it!  For supper I had made Whole30 beef and broccoli except I didn't have any coconut aminos so I told everyone else to just add soy sauce to their meat.  The kids didn't like the sunshine sauce, but he and I really did!

For lunch the boys and I had made zoodles with my Veggetti.  We had gotten it at Walmart a while ago for only $7 on clearance.  I wish I would have opened it earlier - it's so easy to use!!  I cooked some chicken with garlic powder, salt and onion, then tossed to zoodles in the pan with some fat and cooked those for a few minutes, and topped them with the chicken and some tomatoes.  Soooo gooood!!

Veggetti

Zoodles with chicken and tomatoes

I know it's against the rules to weigh during Whole30, but I had an appointment with the dietitian earlier this week.  She wanted to see how I was doing with my weight loss because that was the reason I was seeing her, and we discussed W30 a lot.  I'm down 5 pounds since my last appointment with her!!!!  I told her about my plans to do Whole45 and she was fine with that.  I asked for input on doing it long term.  So we have a plan.

Long term is fine, as long as I take some breaks in between... 30-45 days on, 2-4 weeks off, reintroducing beans, grains, and dairy, then 30-45 (60/90) days on.  If I decide I want to do more than the 45 I should let her know.  Sometimes people do 60-90 days, but I'm not sure if I want to do that long.  I think doing 30-45 is a good amount of time to keep me on track and compliant.  My journal and blogging should help me keep on track too.

Emily, the dietitian, also said it's OK to break one of the rules - which isn't a food rule.  I should continue with my weekly weigh ins because I'm doing the Whole45 and because I need to get myself into a healthy weight range.  Weight actually IS an important part of this for me. 

We set a goal of another 5 pounds for my next appointment in a month.  I wasn't getting all the water I need to in each day, so that's another one of my goals, and to get my 30 minutes in 4x a week, since I'd been slacking on that.  If I can get my exercise back on track I will really be doing amazing!!

Here is my tracker from my bujo.  I really love the quote on the top:  Do not reward yourself with food.  You are NOT a dog!!

Diabetic Friendly Recipes #1

This recipe I have seen several times on Facebook in many variations posted by several different "sources" but have not been able to track down a single source for it.  It is really good and has no carbs!!

Oopsies
Ingredients:
3 eggs, separated
3.5 oz cream cheese (light)
pinch of salt
1 tsp cream of tartar

Separate the eggs, with the egg whites in one bowl and the egg yolks in another.  Whip the egg whites together with the salt until very stiff. You should be able to turn the bowl over without the egg whites moving.

Mix the egg yolks and the cream cheese well. If you choose, 1tsp of cream of tarter or baking powder (this makes the Oopsie more bread-like).

Gently fold the egg whites into the egg yolk mix – try to keep the air in the egg whites.

Put 6 large or 8 smaller oopsies on a baking tray.
Bake in the middle of the oven at 150° C (300° F) for about 25 minutes – until they turn golden.

This next recipe uses both fresh and frozen veggies because this is what I happened to have on hand.  If using all fresh or all frozen, the veggies can be all added at the same time.  1 c of soup counts as 1 carb choice.

Veggie Cheese Soup

1/2 red pepper, chopped

1/2 yellow pepper, chopped

1/4 onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 large block American cheese, cut into cubes

2 c frozen broccoli

2 c frozen cauliflower

2 c peeled chopped carrots

8 cups low sodium chicken broth

2 cups milk

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in soup pot.  Saute onion, garlic, and pepper until tender.  Add carrots and broth.  Bring to boil.  Add broccoli, cauliflower, cheese and milk.  Return to boil, reduce to simmer.  Cook approx 15-20 minutes, until cheese is melted and veggies are tender.

Another recipe from facebook.  Making this tonight and hopefully the kids will eat it.  Scrappy is helping me to make supper, so the next 3 recipes are the plan for supper:

Baked Cheesy Tomatoes

Ingredients:4 tomatoes, halved1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese1 oz reduced fat provolone cheese, shredded or Mozzarella1 tsp chopped fresh basil1 tsp chopped fresh oreganoSalt to tasteFreshly ground pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 450° F.Place tomatoes cut-side up on a baking sheet.Top with Parmesan, provolone, oregano, basil, salt and pepper.Bake until the tomatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.

Changes for this recipe:  Our oven goes into self-cleaning mode at 400, so we'll have to bake a little bit longer at a lower temp, like 375, but should still be ok!

Green Beans with Lemon and Garlic (From Foodnetwork.com)

Ingredients
2 pounds green beans, ends trimmed
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon lemon zest
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Blanch green beans in a large stock pot of well salted boiling water until bright green in color and tender crisp, roughly 2 minutes. Drain and shock in a bowl of ice water to stop from cooking.

Heat a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the oil and the butter. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the beans and continue to saute until coated in the butter and heated through, about 5 minutes. Add lemon zest and season with salt and pepper.

And our final side for this meal:

Zucchini Pasta  (from About.com!) (We will serve tossed with homemade spaghetti sauce)

• Zucchini
• Salt

Preparation:

1. Using a vegetable peeler, peel strips off zucchini, working your way around the squash. They can be as wide or as narrow as you like. Keep going until you reach the seeds (a few seeds won't matter, but you don't want it to be too seedy). You can also use a mandolin for this.

2. Put the zucchini strips in a colander or strainer, sprinkle a liberal amount of salt over them,and toss to coat. Use perhaps a quarter teaspoon of or a little more of salt for several cups of strips. Put the colander over a bowl and put a small plate on top to squeeze out the juice as it emerges. To speed things up, put some kind of weight on the plate such as a can of food. You can leave it like this for an hour, or up to 24 hours (they get more solid over time, but most of the action happens in the first hour). If you think of it, toss the strips with your fingers at some point to make sure the brine is well-distributed.

3. Rinse the salt off and either press the excess water out (you can just return it to the colander/plate setup) or spread the "noodles" out on a cotton dish towel (not terry cloth, or you may get lint.

4. The zucchini pasta is now ready. It doesn't really need cooking, but you can gently warm it up. Don't cook it too long, or it will stick together and/or become mushy - it's much more delicate than regular pasta. Enjoy!

I'll be sure to post how the meal actually turns out when it's done :)