Day 28: Andy may have called today "Naughty Monday"

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, peaches and coffee

Then Andy decided to bring home this:

He just saw that I was posting this, to which he said "Oh no.....are you posting our naughty photos?"

(Yes, this is the most naughty photo I have....because I know you were wondering. Stop thinking what you're thinking right now. Yes, you.)


Andy was gone all weekend, and I hadn't made it to the grocery store yet, so we decided to go to Stuffed for lunch because we can get great tacos there without having to cheat at all.

PROBLEMATIC.

At which point, we decided to head to Fred's, which is directly upstairs from Stuffed.

Not exactly the worst place in the world to eat lunch. However, it may be the worst place in the world to eat if you're on a diet.

We actually didn't do too bad: the steak tacos are really great. But so were the taquitos with a little cheese that we also had.

In Phase III, we can now have brown rice in small amounts. We decided that, at least for today, mexican rice in small amounts also was ok.

PROBLEMATIC.

I literally only took 4 bites of rice. FOUR. I counted them.You know that feeling you get after eating way too much when you feel like you weigh 963 pounds and your stomach is about to explode? You know how it usually goes away after 30 minutes or so? I felt like that for SIX HOURS.

Dinner: an apple.

Yes, I had just an apple for dinner. I still felt sick and full and gross. So I just had an apple. Finally, around 7PM I started to feel better.


Back on the wagon tomorrow I guess.

Phase III

Time for Phase III!

Here's what we can add:

Beans and Legumes

• pinto beans
• split peas
• lima beans
• black-eyed peas
• red beans
• garbanzo beans
• broad beans
• edamame (in small amounts)

Nuts and seeds

• roasted almonds
• roasted pecans
• sunflower seeds
• pumpkin seeds
• roasted walnuts
• roasted macadamia nuts
• pumpkinseed butter
• peanuts (in small amounts)
• peanut butter (in small amounts)
• cashews (in small amounts)
• cashew butter (in small amounts)

Fruits

• bananas
• papaya
• mango
• canned fruit (in its own juices)
• dried figs, dates, pineapple, papaya, peaches, apples, raisins and prunes

Beverages

• raw, unpasteurized vegetable juice
• raw, unpasteurized fruit juice
• organic wine and beer (in very small amounts)

Grains and starchy carbohydrates

• sprouted, Ezekiel-type bread
• sprouted Essene bread
• fermented whole-grain sourdough bread
• whole-grain kamut of spelt pasta (in small amounts)
• quinoa
• buckwheat
• kamut (small amounts)
• oats (small amounts)
• barley (small amounts)
• brown rice (small amounts)
• amaranth
• millet
• sprouted cereal
• spelt (small amounts)

Sweeteners

• 100% pure maple syrup
• organic cane juice

Still can't have: pork, shellfish, commercial dairy products, soy/almond milk, anything with added sugar, regular bread, potatoes, or pastas

But do you people understand what this means?

Pancakes.

Waffles.

French toast.

Are you hearing this?

No.More.Omelettes.

Day 27: Same same but different

Breakfast: Omelette 

Let's just say I have gotten really good at making omelettes. This was the usual--chicken sausage, tomatoes, red onions and cilantro--but with a twist. I added a little shredded raw organic cheddar cheese. I forgot how good omelettes are when they actually have cheese in them.

Lunch: Clam Chowder from Slapfish and french fries

I'm gonna consider this my reward for being otherwise good at staying on the diet while Andy was away. It was definitely a soup kind of day. It rained all night and was gloomy this morning. So some delicious clam chowder was in order. And you can't get chowder at Slapfish without french fries to dip in it. I split the fries with my mom (and, let's be honest, Uriah ate a good portion of them), so I don't feel too bad about that.

Dinner: Left-over Spaghetti Squash

I have not eaten dinner yet; but in about an hour, my plan is to eat the left-over squash from last night's dinner.


Sorry, it was kinda a boring food day.

Day 26: Partying like it's 1999

Took a little while to get this post for yesterday up. It's because I was doing things like this until the wee hours of the morning:

Breakfast: Coffee. Just coffee. I'm sure this is really healthy.

Lunch: Chicken nachos

OK, OK, so I know what I said yesterday, but I made nachos again anyway. Andy is not a fan, so I have to take advantage of eating them while I can. Also, I already had all the stuff chopped up, so it was easy.

Just chicken, tomatoes, green onion, cilantro, red onion, lime, raw organic cheddar cheese and tortilla chips.

Dinner: Spaghetti squash with basil pesto, tomatoes and artichoke hearts

Don't the let the picture deceive you. If you make one recipe from this blog, this should probably be it. I got it off the Recipes for Divine Living blog. Click the link for the original post. I added/modified/left out a few ingredients, so heres my version of the recipe:

1 Spaghetti squash, roasted
olive oil
salt and pepper
Trader Joe's chopped garlic, onions and shallots mix
1/4 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup dry sherry
1 can (or jar) artichoke hearts, chopped
basil pesto (recipe below)
1 cup sweet cherry tomatoes, halved
Trader Joe's fresh parmesan/asiago cheese mix
1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped


Start by roasting the spaghetti squash. If you're not sure how, you can check out a few of my previous posts. Once you've roasted the squash, set it aside to cool and start with the other ingredients.

Add 2 Tbs olive oil to a large skillet over MedHi heat. Add the onions, garlic and shallots mix and saute for 3-5 minutes. Add the sherry and chicken broth and simmer for another 3-5 minutes. Stir in basil pesto, tomatoes and artichokes and simmer for another 2 minutes or so. Add the spaghetti squash, cheese and parsley and stir to combine. Add salt and pepper if desired.


Basil Pesto:
2/3 cup fresh basil leaves
2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup pecans
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup olive oil

Put the first six ingredients into a food processor and pulse into a paste. Add cheese and pulse to blend. Pour in olive oil and mix to incorporate.



This recipe was actually relatively easy to make, and the flavor was so great. Even Uriah loved it! The pesto was fantastic--I will probably make it again to use with other recipes or even as a stand-alone spread.

Day 25: I can do anything for 15 more days, right?

Breakfast: If you guessed omelette, you would be.....half right. 

I made an omelette for Andy and brought it to him at work. I had some fruit.

Then we ran out the door and headed to OC Great Park. If you live in the area, and have kids, you MUST go. They have a free carousel that you can ride as many times as you want.

Lunch: Steak Nachos

I've been looking forward to these all week. I used the left-over steak from last night, raw organic cheese, tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, lime, avocado and some organic white corn tortilla chips. The tortilla chips are another place I'm willing to budge a bit from the diet occasionally. They're almost OK, and they sure are a bright spot when I get to indulge in them.

I simply layered the chips, cheese and steak in on a piece of foil on top of a baking sheet, put them in an oven at 350 for a few minutes until the cheese was melted, then put the other ingredients over the top.

Truthfully, the tostada nacho things I made last week were much easier to eat. I think I'd make those again before I make nachos, even when we're not on a diet.

Dinner: The Habit (gee, I'm starting to understand why they call it that)

Hopefully, this is my only cheat meal this weekend. But it's gonna be tough. Andy is out of town, and I've got a handful of great opportunities this weekend. We're headed to the swap meet tomorrow, with a ton of fun food booths, I'm headed to a church event tomorrow night with Krispy Kreme doughnuts, and my mom is gonna be in town. On top of the fact that Andy has limited food resources this weekend, so he has no choice but to cheat a bit. Ugh. I'll be surrounded by temptations everywhere I turn, with no one to do it with me. I think it's gonna be a bit like this:

Don't worry, they're fake. But I'm not sure Uriah knows that.

Day 24: I'm beginning to see the light.

Breakfast: Peaches and strawberries

Yum.

Lunch: Chicken spring salad

All I did was use the left-over pesto chicken from yesterday with some spring mix and apple cidar vinegar dressing. I will never get tired of that dressing. And if you're thinking this salad looks small, you're right. At this point, that's all it takes to fill us up. We started out having to eat salads that were whole platefuls to get us full, and now we've made it to this. Funny how that works. Kinda nice actually.

Dinner: Chimichurri Steaks and roasted veggies

This is a very easy dinner.

The steaks are simply from Trader Joe's (of course).

Like most of their meats, I think the marinade might be a stretch. Maybe biggest problem with this one is that it has "tequila-flavored seasoning" listed as one of the ingredients. So it's not tequila? It's just tequila-flavored? I think that might actually be worse.

But the steaks are delicious. Juicy and tender, with a great flavor to them.

You're supposed to grill them, but I did them in a pan just fine. Just put them over MedHi heat and flipped them every couple of minutes until they were done.

The veggies were zucchini and asparagus, sliced into pieces and tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper and a little garlic powder.

Put them all in a dish in the oven at 375 for.....Ok, I'm not sure. I put them in about 5 minutes before I put the steaks on. I opened up the oven and stirred them around every time I flipped the steaks (so I guess every couple of minutes). They were done about 5 minutes after the steaks. So 15 or 20 minutes maybe?


Starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We're almost to Phase III. That means tuna melts. And turkey sandwiches. This is huge.

Day 23:What you don't know can't hurt you, right?

Just spicing up the photos a bit.

We went out in a boat in around Balboa today. Had a blast. May or may not have gotten the boys a scoop of ice cream afterward. May or may not have gotten one for myself as well. Oops. At least I'm not craving Rocky Road anymore.

Breakfast: If you were betting on an omelette, you'd be right. 

Chicken sausage, tomato, red onion and cilantro. Reigning favorite around here.

Lunch: Trader Joe's Pesto Chicken with peaches and strawberries

The chicken comes pre-marinated in the Trader Joe's meat section. This is one of those ones that the marinade has a few minor ingredients in it that I think are things we're not supposed to have; but I figure it's just the marinade and it's minor...so....not a big deal? I'm no nutritionist, so if I'm wrong, please don't tell me. It's really good chicken.

Dinner: Spaghetti squash with meat sauce

If you missed my last post when I cooked this, here's the link again to a great video on how to prepare spaghetti squash. I did one thing differently this time: I figured out an easier way to slice it in half. See, the difficulty mostly comes in that you're supposed to slice it in half lengthwise, which gets hard when you get to the top area with the stem. So this time I cut at an angle:

Worked great and was a bit easier. I felt a lot less concerned that I was gonna slice off one of my fingers that way. Also, I was a bit less timid when scooping the seeds out this time. That also helped. 

Only 17 days left to go. Andy just read this while I was typing this. He said "Seventeen? I thought we only had like seven left or something like that?" Wishful thinking.