Well. Tis the season ... Of busy-ness. Time to reflect ...
The diet is going pretty well. I am down 6.4 lbs. And I will be continuing on with the shakes. Because it really is so easy ... and they do fill me up. I've had a few slips -- dinner out, Christmas cookies, work holiday party, a cocktail now and then -- but they're not derailing me. I have decided that making the shakes with 1% milk and NO ice is the best way, for me, at least. In the morning, I might throw in a flavor-mix in, some frozen berries, or a half a banana. Also, since Donna gave me a shaker-bottle, I can put 8 ounces of milk in it, throw two scoops of powder into a baggie, and there's lunch. Super easy. My favorite shake so far was a riff on a pina colada I came up with. I had a pineapple sitting in the fridge left over from an experiment at school, so I threw a few pieces in the blender with 2 scoops of mix, 8 oz of milk, and a tablespoon of shredded coconut. The coconut DOES add some fat ... but, remember, HUNGRY GIRL, so it's more filling. And so delicious. The next I will try is an apple pie style ... with a few spoonfulls of applesauce and some cinnamon & nutmeg.
But I still eat (and love) food ... and I crave warm, mushy, savory risotto-ish stuff, especially in the winter, so I decided to experiment with quinoa. I've had it before and it was fine but not great. But this....WOW. Ate some for dinner last night and brought some to work for lunch today. Googled quinoa recipes and got a few ideas and played with them depending on what I had in the house... Here's the recipe ...
Quinoa Risotto
Boil 2 cups of water
Add 1 cup quinoa
Add a splash of olive oil
Add 3 coarsely chopped dates
Turn burner to low
Saute a little green pepper and three chopped mushrooms in olive oil, then add to quinoa
Add cooked peas to quinoa
Grate some parm into quinoa
When its almost done, crack an egg into quinoa
Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, sage, parsley
Stir
Serve hot ... about 20-30 min
I'm really, really happy with how it came out. It's insane that I didn't have fresh garlic to chop & add, or even one onion ... I'm sure that would have really enhanced it. The peas just happenned to be left over from dinner the night before and were a lovely fresh pop of vegetable ... I could see adding nuts, or more mushrooms.
So, like, for today ... I had coffee and a shake with a half a banana for breakfast
lunch - quinoa, celery sticks & peanut butter
snacks - 3 walnuts, a few wheat pretzel sticks, 3 hershey kisses, one clementine
dinner (about to "eat") - a shake with milk
Good day, and happy with my progress ... it's tough this time of year, but at least having lost some weight, I feel as if I can enjoy Christmas without fear of ballooning up. Then we are DEFINITELY planning to get to the gym over break, a lot. I want to get back into a routine and as cliche as it is, New Years is a great time to do that. We've both been sick for the past few weeks -- and work has been mega-stressful -- so gym-ing it has been near-impossible. I can only imagine how the weight will pour off as I start to work out. :)
In other news, I am making 3 lb of linguine with a white clam sauce for Christmas Eve feast of 7 fishes. Kind of excited to cook a big dish like that. Feel all grown up, lol. I'm using what I know about my mom and Noni's and also an Anne Burrel recipe online. But no butter because Jamison is allergic to milk. So,yeah ... I'll be posting about how that goes.
The chickens are getting huge and John is taking great care of "the girls", as he calls them. It's so funny. City-guy to backyard-chicken-keeper. It's so cold in the morning, and I'm always rushing... and then by the time I get home from work it is dark so I hardly see them. Thank God for my awesome boyfriend! No eggs yet, but I read online that they may wait until after winter due to temp and daylight hours. Will post pics for sure when they arrive!!
That's about it for now.
The diet is going pretty well. I am down 6.4 lbs. And I will be continuing on with the shakes. Because it really is so easy ... and they do fill me up. I've had a few slips -- dinner out, Christmas cookies, work holiday party, a cocktail now and then -- but they're not derailing me. I have decided that making the shakes with 1% milk and NO ice is the best way, for me, at least. In the morning, I might throw in a flavor-mix in, some frozen berries, or a half a banana. Also, since Donna gave me a shaker-bottle, I can put 8 ounces of milk in it, throw two scoops of powder into a baggie, and there's lunch. Super easy. My favorite shake so far was a riff on a pina colada I came up with. I had a pineapple sitting in the fridge left over from an experiment at school, so I threw a few pieces in the blender with 2 scoops of mix, 8 oz of milk, and a tablespoon of shredded coconut. The coconut DOES add some fat ... but, remember, HUNGRY GIRL, so it's more filling. And so delicious. The next I will try is an apple pie style ... with a few spoonfulls of applesauce and some cinnamon & nutmeg.
But I still eat (and love) food ... and I crave warm, mushy, savory risotto-ish stuff, especially in the winter, so I decided to experiment with quinoa. I've had it before and it was fine but not great. But this....WOW. Ate some for dinner last night and brought some to work for lunch today. Googled quinoa recipes and got a few ideas and played with them depending on what I had in the house... Here's the recipe ...
Quinoa Risotto
Boil 2 cups of water
Add 1 cup quinoa
Add a splash of olive oil
Add 3 coarsely chopped dates
Turn burner to low
Saute a little green pepper and three chopped mushrooms in olive oil, then add to quinoa
Add cooked peas to quinoa
Grate some parm into quinoa
When its almost done, crack an egg into quinoa
Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, sage, parsley
Stir
Serve hot ... about 20-30 min
I'm really, really happy with how it came out. It's insane that I didn't have fresh garlic to chop & add, or even one onion ... I'm sure that would have really enhanced it. The peas just happenned to be left over from dinner the night before and were a lovely fresh pop of vegetable ... I could see adding nuts, or more mushrooms.
So, like, for today ... I had coffee and a shake with a half a banana for breakfast
lunch - quinoa, celery sticks & peanut butter
snacks - 3 walnuts, a few wheat pretzel sticks, 3 hershey kisses, one clementine
dinner (about to "eat") - a shake with milk
Good day, and happy with my progress ... it's tough this time of year, but at least having lost some weight, I feel as if I can enjoy Christmas without fear of ballooning up. Then we are DEFINITELY planning to get to the gym over break, a lot. I want to get back into a routine and as cliche as it is, New Years is a great time to do that. We've both been sick for the past few weeks -- and work has been mega-stressful -- so gym-ing it has been near-impossible. I can only imagine how the weight will pour off as I start to work out. :)
In other news, I am making 3 lb of linguine with a white clam sauce for Christmas Eve feast of 7 fishes. Kind of excited to cook a big dish like that. Feel all grown up, lol. I'm using what I know about my mom and Noni's and also an Anne Burrel recipe online. But no butter because Jamison is allergic to milk. So,yeah ... I'll be posting about how that goes.
The chickens are getting huge and John is taking great care of "the girls", as he calls them. It's so funny. City-guy to backyard-chicken-keeper. It's so cold in the morning, and I'm always rushing... and then by the time I get home from work it is dark so I hardly see them. Thank God for my awesome boyfriend! No eggs yet, but I read online that they may wait until after winter due to temp and daylight hours. Will post pics for sure when they arrive!!
That's about it for now.
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