Weekly weigh-in: Week 21

5 months and almost 60 pounds later it comes to this:  the last two weeks...the last 3ish pounds.  I'll be on Phase 2 August 11 no matter what.  I want to be into maintenance when John and I go to Italy in September.  I'd really love to be at my goal, but since I figure I'll be back on Phase 1 after Italy (if the wine doesn't do me in the pasta will!) I'm OK with not being all the way there.

One of the videos I got from IP was about how to think about maintenance.  Its like tiny corrections and bigger corrections.  They compared it to driving a car and staying in the lane.  You naturally make small adjustments while driving to stay in the middle of your lane due to wheel alignment, road conditions etc.  If you doze off and hit the rumble strips you make a larger correction.

The same goes for weight loss maintenance.  The suggestion was to pick a weight that would signal the need for small and large corrections.

My correction weights are 3 and 5 pounds.  If I go up 3 pounds I'll make mall adjustments, watch the carbs closer, eat more green veg than higher carb veg etc.  If I'm up by 5 pounds, larger corrections are in order and I  go back on Phase 1 until I'm back at goal.  This makes so much sense to me and makes maintaining this loss so much less concerning.

Lindsay and I were just talking today about the structure of Phase 1 versus the potential free for all on maintenance.    Lindsay said she thinks I already have the right mindset for maintaining :)  This helps bound the problem quite a lot.  I don't feel as intimidated now as I did even thinking about it a few weeks ago.

Week 21 -1.2
Total -55.8

Another Chicken crust pizza recipe

If you feel better using cooked chicken in the crust give this recipe a try from  A Nation of Moms.  I have not tried it yet but it looks just as good (maybe a little easier too since the chicken is already cooked).  If you try it let me know how it is in the comments!!

Crust Ingredients:
1 c. finely chopped cooked chicken breast (chopped in food processor)
1/2 c GO Veggie mozzarella shreds
1 egg white
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp oregano

Toppings:
Walden Farms Smoky BBQ Sauce
sliced/diced onions
sliced/diced peppers
Go Veggie mozzarella shreds
Go Veggie Cheddar and Peter Jack shreds

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine all crust ingredients with your hands in a large bowl. Press onto baking sheet that has been lightly sprayed with EVOO spray. Form a flat circular “crust” shape about 1/4″ to 1/2″ thick. 

Bake for 12 minutes. 

Let cool for 5 minutes before adding sauce, add toppings (the more veggies the better!) and lightly sprinkle with more soy cheese. Bake for an additional 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. 

  

Enjoy!

Chicken Salsa Verde

I stumbled upon a couple of great pork tacos recipes a few weeks back.  I bought ingredients for both and have been wanting to try the second recipe for a bit now.  I didn't have pork in the freezer this week but had a big ol' bag of chicken breasts so I figured chicken tacos would be a good crock pot dinner to try out.

The original recipe is from Four Marrs ... One Venus ... great name for a blog!!  The Marrs family of all boys and the mom (the one Venus).  I love the throw back reference to Men are from Mars Women are From Venus.

This was super simple, even for a crock pot meal.  And as I shredded the chicken I couldn't help but sample it.  I had to make my self stop eating!  It was that good.  The salsa verde has a distinctive flavor and is pretty unique.  Much different from your normal taco taste, in my opinion any way.

Here is the recipe if you want to try it out for yourselves

Salsa Verde Tacos
2 lb pork (roast or picnic cut) or chicken breasts (skinless/boneless)
Kosher salt
1 jar salsa verde (I used HyVee select roasted salsa verde)
1 small can diced green chilies (also used a store brand here)
1 tsp. cumin

Place your meat in a crock pot.  Sprinkle with kosher salt.  Pour salsa verde over the top and then your diced chilies.  Sprinkle with 1 tsp of cumin.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours

Remove from crock pot and shred (its easier on a plate or cutting board than in the crock pot).  Put shredded meat back in the crock pot to keep it warm (I turned crock off but let the meat hang out in the juice that had accumulated)

Serve with your favorite taco toppings.

Meat wrap - Philly steak "sandwiches"

Any one remember these?

I remember the commercials from years ago.  I didn't' know what a Philly cheese steak sandwich was at the time and I thought these were kinda silly.  I've since learned the error of my ways, the divine nature of a good philly and Steak-umms are still on the market (in the freezer section)

Thought I'd give it a try!  Sure am glad I did.  I used a bag of PictSweet frozen diced onions and peppers and warmed them up (no caramelizing of the onions, just soft) in a saute pan with a little oil.

I cooked up the steak-umms per the package directions and piled stuff on a hoagie bun with cheese ... for my husband,  Of course I couldn't eat that.  

I think these would make awesome lettuce wraps but unfortunately I didn't have lettuce so I made ...ummm ... meat wraps

I used the steak-umm as the wrap, piled it with the peppers and onions and folded it up and ate it like that.  Kinda messy with meat and onion juice dripping everywhere, but I was in heaven.  The taste was cheesesteak sandwich.  Peppers and onions and total taste bud ecstasy.  I honestly didn't miss the bread at all (except maybe to soak up some of the drippings).

And since everything was from the freezer this really took just minutes to make.  You don't even have to plan it because the meat is to be cooked frozen!

So next time you are in the mood for a philly, try a meat wrap. 

Weekly weigh in: Week 20

This was an extremely good week.  I tried a casserole ... pasta (IP pasta but still) {soy} cheese, and a thick rich tomato sauce.  It was divine!! 

 I made super fantastic chicken salsa verde tacos (the recipe will be posted later in the week) ... with enough left over meat to freeze so I can have it while the hubs is on a business trip. Although I'm not thrilled for John to be going on the trip, I will take the opportunity to play around with shell fish.  He is allergic so we don't eat it.  I'm OK with that although I do miss crab sometimes and I developed an affinity for scallops when I had my business trips to Seattle earlier in the year.  So I'll make it a positive and make some things that I can't normally make when he's here  

And last but not least, I lost a whopping 3.6 pounds.  Whaaaa .... Shut the front door!!  That's one of the best weeks I've had in months!!!

I've been pretty steady at 2 to 2.5 pounds for the last 2 months.  That's nothing to sneeze at and I've been pleased that the downward trend continued without a plateau.  I was taken aback a little by this week's loss.  I didn't think I was doing things much differently but boy howdy was the result better!
So all in all a great week!  

Total: -54.6

Easy Italian Pasta Bake

I grew up on casseroles.  All kinds.  Some I liked (pizza casserole) some not so much (Johnny Mazzetti casserole- black olives ewwww).  And growing up Catholic there was the ever present tuna and noodle casserole on Fridays during Lent. 

Casseroles are one dish that has been decidedly absent since I started the IP program.  Not anymore.  This Easy Italian Pasta Bake from Innovative Aesthetics was very reminiscent of the pizza casserole I used to make, with just a few swaps.  

I used the IP Pasta and Go Veggie soy cheese.  I did not use WF sauce but instead  one in the health section  Sun Dry brand sun dried tomato pasta sauce as I look up the brand on the web, have brown sugar in it ... second to last ingredient on the list.  I missed it on the jar but hopefully it was so minimal that it wasn't a major factor).  

It tasted wonderful and was super thick (so much so that I added water to it to make it more "saucy")This dish felt like such a treat - pasta, meat, cheese.  3 of my favorite things!!  

It was so good I forgot to take pictures :)  

Here's the recipe 

Italian  Pasta Bake 
Ingredients: 
1 lb lean ground turkey 
4 packets of Ideal Protein Rotini Pasta 
1 Jar Walden Farms Marinara Sauce, or make your own in a food processor 
1/3 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese, Divided ·         

Directions
Brown meat until down and drain off any fat.
Boil pasta till al dente 
Add pasta, sauce and half of the parmesan to meat and mix well. 
Spoon into 13x9 baking dish; top with remaining cheeses. 
Bake 20 min. or until heated through.

Weekly weigh in: Heading for the home stretch

This was a good week!  Down another 2 lbs and about 6 lbs more to go to be at my goal.  6 or 8.  I still am not 100% sure where I'll stop.  I do know I'll be done by 8/11 because I'm going on Phase 2 then regardless of my weight,  I want to be in maintenance when we go on our honeymoon in September.  The longer I have to work on good eating habits the better that trip will be I think.

So I have at most 4 weeks left.  Its kinda strange to be thinking about being done.  It doesn't seem like its been that long but it has been 4.5 months so far.  I'm down 54 pounds overall and 51 since I started IP.

And as I've said a hundred times before I feel great.  I'm so excited to see other friends and coworkers starting on the program and being successful.  They are working hard, but I'm helping them too with recipes and encouragement,  I like that.  We're a little community at work and we help encourage and motivate each other.

AND we got a treadmill and elliptical for our neighbor last week.  They are gym quality and in great shape.  It makes me want to get up in the morning and work out.  They will be great to have this winter, especially if its another cold one!  We'll still take the dog out but not for long rambly walks and still be able to get some exercise (when the mood strikes)

That's about all from here.

Have a great evening!

Week 19: 2.0
Total: -51

Big Mac In A Bowl

You know how some things are better together than separate.  Take Sauerkraut, and Thousand Island Dressing.  Maybe even Corned Beef ... not a huge fan.  But put them together panini style and voila - reuben sandwich.  I adore reuben sandwiches even though I am less than enthused about most of the items that make it up.  On their own, blech mostly.  Together ... heaven on marble rye.

So with this mindset I thought I'd try the big mac in a bowl recipe.  I've seen it around the interwebs an awful lot.  Using WF Thousand Island its Phase 1 friendly and its supposed to taste fabulous.   You see, as I've already said, not a Thousand Island fan (except on a reuben).  Not a dill pickle fan either really.  But I thought maybe all combined together it might just be something magical.

And the verdict is ... Yumm-o!!

Way lot better than I thought it would be.  This is definitely taking a turn on the dinner rotation!  I really thought I'd be saying "I think next time I'll go lighter on the pickles", but the 1000 Island dill pickle combo is really quite nice.

The only thing I did differently was to add the chopped pickles and the re-hydrated onions to the browned meat when I took it off the heat.  I let it hang out for about a minute or so to let those flavors meld together, then added it to my bowl of lettuce.

Oh and you will need a BIG bowl.  The portion on this is huge

I've seen lots of recipes on the web.  

I'm linking to the Andover site because I like its organization:

Big Mac in a Bowl (Great for all phases)

Ingredients: 

8oz ground beef

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 teaspoon minced dry onions

46 grams dill pickle slices or 2 dill spears, chopped, about 1 5/8 ounces

2 tablespoons Walden Farms Thousand Island Dressing

1 1/2 ounces iceberg lettuce, shredded

Directions:

Brown the ground beef, drain off any fat, season with salt and pepper.  Meanwhile, soak the dry onions in a little water to rehydrate them. Put the meat in a large salad bowl and add the remaining ingredients.  Toss and eat at once.

Lemon Roasted Turnips

Tried another recipe off the Andover Site.  Here is a link:  Lemon Roasted Turnips

These were really good.  The lemon sauce was super flavorful.  The only suggestion I have is to make sure they are done.  I checked 1 chunk and it was good but there were some others that weren't as well roasted.  I also broiled them on a Lo Broil for about 4-5 minutes to get them crispy on top.

This will definitely make a repeat appearance on the turnip rotation!

I paired it up with some pan seared pork cutlets (thin cut boneless pork chops).  I used a little Italian seasoning and sea salt on them and sauteed them in some grape seed oil.  The Italian flavor went really well with the lemon on the turnips.

The recipe is copied below for your convenience.

Lemon Roasted Turnips

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds turnips diced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/3 cup low sodium chicken broth
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp salt
• paprika powder
• 3 garlic cloves,grated
• 2 lemons, juiced and zested (I used 6 T lemon juice)
• pepper
• parsley

Directions:
Combine
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Olive oil, oregano, salt, pepper, grated garlic, lemon juice and zest, and chicken broth.
Toss with diced turnips. Sprinkle turnips with paprika, for color.

Put them in a preheated oven for 30 minutes, take them out, flip them over and put them back in for another 20 minutes.

Test for doneness.

When tender set oven to Broil on low temp and broil for 4-5 minutes to crisp up the tops.,

Weekly Weigh In: Week 18

Well this week was kind of a bust.  During the week it was OK, but we were travelling all weekend.  And I mean ALL weekend.  Friday (4th) we drove to Ames to see my eldest at college and bring her the dog.  She was gonna dog sit for us plus she needed "fluzz therapy" as we call it.  Squishing the dog is a great de-stresser.

Saturday we drove home ... via the outlet mall.  There I met 2 goals I set when I started this program.

My original 3 goals were
(1) to be around the weight I was after I had my eldest - thus being able to say I had lost all my baby weight.  OK My eldest will be 22 this year, but it didn't all go on right away either :)

(2) To wear size 10 pants comfortably

(3) To buy boots without fat-calf gusseting

All the pants I got at the outlet mall (nay all the pants I've gotten since Memorial Day) have been size 10s.  Five or six different brands so its not a brand thing either!

I also got the coolest boots - at 65% off too so bonus there.

The only goal left is just 10 pounds away from being met as well.

So that was Friday and Saturday.  Lots of driving.  Lots of eating out.  Then we had to go to WI for a family funeral.  Lots of driving.  Lots of eating.  Not a lot of veg.  I ended up with a zero change,  No gain, no loss.  I'm OK with that.  Given the choices I had , I did the best I could.  And honestly.  I'm still in Size 10s and I got cool boots.  I'm OK with that!

Its back on plan this week though.  I joined a Colorful Choices team at work - fruit/veg challenge they are doing.  A bunch of people I work with are doing it and asked me to join along.  Pretty cool since I'm already eating a ton of veg every day.  So that will be pretty motivating as well over the next few weeks

Week 18: 0
Total: -49

Salmon Glaze

Here is another recipe I found from the Andover Diet Center's website - Lime Maple Salmon

I almost didn't try this because of the sriracha sauce. I have heard that is WAY spicy and the little taste I took from the bottle I bought did not disappoint.  But since I'd bought it I was committed.  

If you know me you know I'm not good with too much spiciness   It has bothered my stomach for years.  But I've found as I've gotten my diet under control with the IP protocol, I haven't had the troubles that I've had in the past.  So I thought - what the heck.  It sounds tasty.  I can always adjust the spiciness if its too much.

Let me tell you it was amazing!!  The other ingredients in the glaze neutralized the heat while still leaving a lot of the flavor of the sriracha sauce.  I sauteed asparagus with it and since I didn't want to have the opened packet of syrup lying around I dumped that in the pan with some salt and pepper.  It turned out really good too.

Here is the glaze recipe


INGREDIENTS

• Juice and zest of 1/2 lime (I used 1 TB of lime juice and no zest)
• 1 tablespoon Walden Farms Pancake Syrup
• 1 1/2 teaspoons tsp sriracha sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt (I used fine sea salt)
• 1 1/4 lbs pounds salmon fillet, skin removed
• 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped cilantro (I used dried cilantro)

PREPARATION
Heat oven to 425°. In a bowl, whisk together juice, zest, syrup, sriracha and salt. Place salmon in a baking dish lined with parchment paper; pour lime-maple mixture over top. Roast salmon until cooked through and flaky, 15 minutes. Sprinkle with cilantro; serve.


Enjoy!

Zucchini Pie and a New Recipe Resource

There is a little Ideal Protein epidemic in my office.  Since Tony (the guy I learned about it from) has done so dramatically well there are about 6 of us inthe office (or related to those in the office) that are on the program.One friend of mine who started last week found this amazing site for the Andover Diet Center.  Their recipe index is the best I've seen.  All the recipes are categorized for IP phase and if there is a mix of ingredients they tell you Phase 1 substitutes.  Really nice user interface!!!

Here is a link to the recipe site: Andover Diet Center recipe catalog

Some of the recipes I have actually pinned from Pinterest so they are getting their recipes from all over and just IP-tizing them - kinda like me but their set up is way slicker!!!

One of the recipes I tried this week was the zucchini pie.

The recipe was pretty simple.  I think I went a little short on the salt and had to add some when I was eating it.  I made this for our church small group potluck and it went over really well with only 1 small scoop left.

One change I want to try is to use fresh Basil and Oregano in place of the dill.  I'm not a huge dill fan and I thought the 1/4 c was a little overpowering.  Not bad but I could taste the dill and well, I'm not a huge dill fan :)

Still overall I'd rate this 4 to 4.5 stars.  It was really good, lots of veg and just a bit of protein from the eggs so it could still serve as lunch or a side at dinner.

Enjoy!

Zucchini Pie

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 pound (about 2 or 3) green zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 4 scallions, thinly sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 pound  yellow zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/2 cup freshly chopped dill
• 1/4 cup freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 5 large eggs plus 5 large egg whites, lightly beaten
• 1 tomato, thinly sliced
• 2 ounces low-fat feta cheese, crumbled (Phase IV only)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a large skillet set over medium heat. Add green zucchini, half the scallions, half the garlic, a teaspoon marjoram, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; cook, stirring frequently, until zucchini has softened and is beginning to brown, about 5 minutes.
2. Remove from heat; transfer to a large bowl; set aside.Rinse skillet; repeat process with yellow zucchini and remaining teaspoon olive oil, scallions, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon marjoram, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Transfer to bowl with cooked green zucchini; let sit until cooled. Drain and discard any liquid.
3. Add dill, parsley, and eggs to zucchini; stir to combine. Pour into a 9 1/2-inch round, deep baking dish. Cover with tomato; sprinkle with feta.
4. Bake until set, about 1 hour. Serve hot or at room temperature.