Ups and Downs

After losing so much, its a big hit to the ego when you gain. Even if it's only

half a pound.

It still hurts.

Last week I lost a total of 5 pounds. Pretty neat. 

Mother's Day was Sunday. Fams went to MacCool's. I did so good (so I thought). I ordered a beet salad, left the walnuts out, six cups of water, denied candy offered, and sucked down watermelon for dinner.

I guess you can overdo it on something as simple as watermelon.

So today I made certain I was right on target. Salads for lunch and dinner. Fruit "soup" for dessert. 

Add chopped strawberries and pineapples and one packet of stevia to a food processor. Add just enough water to make the fruit move. Blend until desired consistency.

I'm going to freeze it overnight and have it as a sort of sorbet tomorrow night.

I've noticed that I'm not eating as much as I should be. Sometimes I don't even reach the 500 calorie limit. I still feel some hunger pangs at times, but they subside quickly. 

Here's to hoping tomorrow morning is a better day.

Four Days Down

So it's been four days on the Hcg diet. I've lost 1.8 pounds. Not as much as I expected, but it is that time of the month. Loss won't be as high for that week. Hopefully next week will show better results.

Some things I've noticed:

~my "smaller" button on my belt isn't as painful~

~I'm feeling full sooner~

~I'm drinking more water~

Unfortunately I'm also more tired and feel hungry sometimes. I also learned working out is not recommended. I don't want to break my habit I'm trying to create by sleeping in and forgoing exercise, so I'm slowing it down. Only 20 minutes of walking. 

And my cravings for {bad} food are insane.

Tonight's dinner was spectacular. I could have eaten the whole pan.

shrimp. frozen spinach. onion. celery. veggie broth. garlic. old bay.

.yum.

I hope next time there will be a bigger loss to report.

what i ate : July17

the problem with this meal is that it was sooooo good j and i couldn't even take a picture before indulging. i got it in my food network magazine this month.

Orzo Salad with Shrimp and Feta

8 oz orzo pasta

1/2 pound large shrimp (peeled, deveined, etc), coarsly chopped

1/3 c plus 1 T olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

zest and juice from a lemon

4 scallions, sliced

1/2 c chopped fresh mint

1/2 c chopped fresh dill

1 c diced english cuke

4 oz crumbled feta

3 T chopped kalamata olives

cook pasta in boiling water until al dente

toss shrimp with 1 T oil and minced garlic

broil coated shrimp until pink and opaque, turning once

mix all ingredients together and enjoy

{or devour like we did}

what i ate : July12

I did awesome this week and planned a menu! Its worked out wonderfully and I haven't gone to the supermarket once. Last night's dinner was dee-lish-us.

 

Potato-Cheddar Quesadillas with Apple-Chipotle Salsa

for the quesadillas:


2 T oil


1 c sliced onion


1 large carrot, chopped fine or shredded


1 large garlic clove, minced


3 cooked medium new potatoes, sliced into 1/4 in rounds


2 flour tortillas, 8 - 10 inch (i used 4 tortillas because mine are quite small)


4 oz sharp cheddar cheese, shredded or thinly sliced

saute the onions and carrot in the oil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, for about five minutes
reduce heat to medium-low


add garlic and potatoes, saute an additional five minutes, stirring occasionally


build tortillas onto a griddle or pan as follows:


.tortilla.cheese.potato mixture.cheese.tortilla.


cook until cheese is melted and tortilla is slightly brown. flip. repeat.


presto! cut into wedges and serve with....

Apple-Chipotle Salsa


3 sweet apples (such as Fuji, Golden Delicious, whatever's on sale, Gala worked fine for me), cored and chopped


1 c minced red onion


2 green bell peppers, seeded and chopped

2 chipotles, chopped (if dried, soaked in hot water, otherwise use canned in adobo sauce)


1/2 small garlic clove (yeah right, go for the full one)


1/4 c lime juice


1 T apple cider vinegar


1 T olive oil


2 T chopped cilantro


s&p

combine apples, onion, and green peppers in large bowl.


mix remaining ingredients in smaller bowl.


add small bowl ingredients to large bowl ingredients and mix (i covered and shook mine)



and there ya go. super simple. and super yummy.

T had another barbeque! She oh so kindly asked me to make dessert again. So of course I went to my usual, cupcakes!

She requested chocolate. Happy to oblige, but I wanted to jazz them up a bit. Raspberry chocolate sounded decadent. So I hustled to the store in search of raspberries. Come to find out the little flat they were selling was

four dollars!!!

I was not about to spend that kind of money on something as silly as raspberries, so I switched my idea to strawberry.

I used my go-to chocolate cake recipe and they turned out great!

aren't they darling?

Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes

3/4 c butter

2 c sugar

3 eggs

2 t vanilla

2 c flour

3/4 c cocoa powder

1 t baking soda

3/4 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

1 1/2 c milk

chopped strawberries

Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl. Set aside.

Cream butter until light and fluffy. Add sugar in slowly beating after each addition (I usually like to add it in half or even quarter cups). Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Finally, beat in vanilla.

Time to add the dry and wet ingredients. Starting and ending with the flour mixture, add the dry ingredients and milk in alternating additions. Mine usually looks like this

(flour, milk, flour, milk, flour)

Fill lined cupcake tins about one-third full with batter. Sprinkle chopped strawberries, then add remaining batter until the cup is approximately two-thirds full. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 18-22 minutes (16-20 for minis).

My trusty recipe yields 24-30 cupcakes. However. I halved the recipe, used mini cupcakes and came just short of 4 dozen. So be prepared to eat a lot of cupcakes.

As for the frosting, I wish I could say I used a recipe. But I don't. I just eyeball it. The ingredients are

butter

vanilla

milk

cocoa powder

powdered sugar

I always start with creaming butter and adding one cup of powdered sugar (and cocoa for this particular recipe). I'll add my liquid next (this time vanilla and milk), then make it to the proper consistency with however much powdered sugar is needed.

Top it with a quartered strawberry and there you have it! Delicious strawberry chocolate cupcakes.