Cheesy Cauliflower Mash

Let me start out by apologizing for the lack of post on Wednesday. Me and dental work to no mix well, especially without very strong pain meds. I'm starting to feel better now though so onward.

The low-carb diet is going great! I can't believe how easy it's been to stay on the plan. I've been eating very yummy food, I haven't been hungry in between meals, and my energy levels have been very high. I'm losing weight too, can't wait for weigh-in on Monday to see how much.

Until then let me share a super yummy recipe I made last night. (I really need to photograph my food, I'll try better this week). This is a recipe adapted from one on the Atkins website.

Cheesy Cauliflower Mash with Onions

2 c cauliflower florets
2 tbs EVOO
3/4 c chopped onion
2 tbs cream or milk
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 ts salt
1/2 t pepper

Steam or boil cauliflower florets until soft and then mash.
Saute onions in oil until opaque.
Combine cauliflower, onions, and cream or milk. Mix until well combined. I used a handblender to get is smoother like mashed potatoes. Salt and Pepper to taste, then add the cheese and stir til melted. Tip: If you use a sharper cheese you can use less and get the same flavor.

This makes 4 servings at 4 net carbs a serving. If you're not doing low-carb you can make it lower fat by using milk instead of cream and using less or low-fat cheese. This only took like 10 minutes to make.

Dental Day

Sorry, I had a whole post planned about the wisdom (or lack thereof) to weighing yourself every day. But today I had a root canal and I'm feeling woozy and sore. So it will have to wait for Friday. So, do you weigh yourself every day, why or why not? I'll tell you my opinion on Friday.

Weigh-In Jan 30

A new comic strip to commemorate the new decade in my life. :-)

Well, thanks to everyone who listened to my ranting on Friday. Everyone has their up days and their down days, and Friday was a big down day for me. It's important to me to keep this blog very real, I want everyone to see the successes and failures. That's how we learn. And I tend to process things out loud, so it was very cathartic. Now I'm doing much better. I took Friday off and spent the day at the museum with my kids, and spent Saturday looking at houses with my family. Saturday we had a birthday dinner with my husband's family (French Dip Sadnwhiches, sooo yummy!) and then a family dinner on Sunday with my family. Three days of no exercising, no dieting, and no worrying.

It was just what the doctor ordered. I woke up this morning refreshed and ready to go. I did my shred, ate breakfast, worked, school with the kids. A good morning. And not to shabby on the scale either. I was 217.5 this morning, only up half a pound from last week. Considering the number of birthday dinners I've had this week, that's pretty impressive.

I'm making a change to my diet this week, I've been focusing on eating whole foods and portion control. This week I'll be focusing on carbs. I've been slowly reducing my carbohydrate intake over the last 2 months. Being hypothyroid and PCOS there is a very good chance I am insulin-resistant and possibly pre-diabetic. Several doctors have suggested I go a low carb-high protein route to lose weight. So I'll be focusing on lean proteins and getting the majority of my carbs from lots and lots of vegetables this week. It's all trial and error to find what works for you. Are you not a fan of low-carb diets? Maybe you believe some of these common myths?

If anyone has any good low-carb recipes I'd love to see them. I'll be heading to the library myself this week to check out some cookbooks. Check back in Wednesday and drink your water.

Sackcloth and Ashes

I'm not going to lie to you guys, I am thoroughly depressed today. Not because I'm 30 now, strangely enough that doesn't really bother me at all. I had a quiet birthday yesterday. Kids and I played games together, I worked out, then I made myself a nice birthday dinner. I chose to cook instead of going out so I wouldn't compromise my weight loss. My menu was chicken cordon bleu (the skinny version found here), homemade bruschetta (yummy), and a mixed green salad. Then instead of a traditional fat-laden birthday cake I made angel food cake with a pineapple topping. I was so proud of myself for sticking with my exercising and my healthy eating even on my birthday! Until I woke up this morning and found out that my birthday dinner had given me the gift of 4 lbs back! That's right I was 221 this morning. :head desk::head desk:head desk:

So now instead of being down 8 hard won lbs in 7 weeks, I am down 4. And then, riding on a wave of what must have been complete insanity, I decided to try on my anniversary dress. You know the one here, to see how it was fitting now after 7 weeks of exercise and healthy eating. Yeah, I couldn't even button it. Now feeling a little desperate to give some validation to all the hard work I pulled out my tape measure. I mean if you're not losing weight you're losing inches right? Isn't that what they say? All my measurements are exactly the same. :head wall: :head wall::head wall:

So now after all the hard work what can I say? At least I haven't gained weight?! It's moments like these that I want to punch the face of every doctor/trainer/nutritionist who've told me that losing weight is about burning more calories that you eat. Once again I defy the laws of the universe.

I'm so frustrated and angry and sad today so I'm taking the day off. I had a leftover chicken for breakfast and I didn't exercise. Instead I'm packing my kids up and heading to the children's museum. Going to spend time with people who just love me.

Come back Monday for weigh-in...it should be interesting.

Xena Warrior Princess/Limp Noodle

Today is one day until my 30th birthday and 3 weeks until my 10th anniversary. I'm starting to feel a little old. Not old like in, "I'll never be in my 20's again" hysterical sobbing. But old like I should probably stop thinking about myself as a newlywed with young kids. The fact of the matter is that my oldest is turning 9 this year, I've been married for a third of my life, and I'm not a child anymore. Do you ever think about the generations shifting? Just a few short years ago I was the child, my parents were the adults, and their parents were the grandparents. Now my kids are the children, I'm the adult, and my parents are the grandchildren. Somehow I've shifted into the middle part of my life, and it feels strange. And good...in a strange way. How did you feel when you turned 30? Was it a hard transition for you?

I celebrated my newly found introspection by graduating myself to level 3 of my 30 Day Shred (read about it here). I have to admit I experienced a little trepidation as I pushed play. And I wasn't disappointed, after about 3 minutes (read: the warm-up) I contemplated going back to level 2 and staying there for 3 or 4 more months. Jillian Michael's is a CRAZY woman. But then half-way through walking push-ups I started to feel...strong. I felt this crazy compulsion come over me and I was grunting and sweating like a amazon. For 15 minutes I had this picture of me in my head like I was Xena Warrior Princess and I could do anything. I could feel my muscles moving and burning and it felt good. So now I'm thinking, heck yeah I can do this! Then I sat down to do the cool down at the end and suddenly I metamorphed from Xena into limp noodle Amy. Wow, 20 minutes later my legs are still shaking. I wonder if Amazon-Amy will come back tomorrow? (Wow that kind of sounds like a stripper name, doesn't it?)

Anyway, on that note. I promised you a progress picture today so I'll post one. It's not the best picture ever (note to self: have husband take pictures night before so 8 year old doesn't have to) and I don't see much change despite the fact that I've lost 8 lbs so far. But here it is:

What do you think? Can you see any change? What do you guys do that makes you feel like Xena (or Superman)? Go drink some water and come back Friday for another new recipe!

Weigh-In Jan 23

Monday means I have a date with the scale. Monday also means, if you remember, that I take a small break from dieting and enjoy some less-healthy neaks. Which is why I'm typing around a bowl of spaghetti and garlic bread. And it tastes gooooood! I'm a firm believer in moderation in all things.

Anyway, as I wipe drool and spaghetti sauce off of my keyboard, this morning I got on my scale and saw the beautiful number 217.0! I wish I took a picture of it for you guys but I was too busy squealing like a teenage girl and dancing around my bathroom in my birthday suit. I wish I could take full credit the 2.5 lbs lost this week but in the interest of full disclosure I'll let you know that yesterday I had some kind of stomach bug and spent the first 2 hours of the day on my toilet. Still, it's the weight I am today so I'm celebrating 8 pounds lost! Woo-hoo! If I lose 2 lbs this coming week I'll have lost 10 lbs. So I have my eye on that goal this week.

It's a big week for me for another reason. Actually a couple of reasons. First tomorrow David and I are going to meet with a specialist to see if we can figure out why we keep miscarrying. I'd be lying if I said I was excited about it. Don't get me wrong, I definitely want more children but this feels like I'm admitting that I'm broken somehow. It seems like this is the sort of thing you should be able to do with just your husband and not with 3 or 4 PHD's, you know? Anyway, that's tomorrow. Then on Thursday it is my birthday! And not just any birthday, it's the big 3-0! I thought I'd be upset about it but surprisingly I'm looking forward to it. I feel like my 30's are going to be so much more productive and happier then my 20's have been. I feel like I have a better idea of who I am and where I'm going and what I want to be.

So come back Wednesday, I'll be posting a progress picture and I'll also be moving to the 3rd level of my 30 day Shred. I'm sure that will be an entertaining post. Go drink some water!

The Cost of Eating Out

Our family resolution for 2011 was to not eat at McDonalds for one whole year, after seeing how much money and calories we had spent there in 2010. I was so proud of my children for rallying around the goal and refusing to eat there, even when mommy wasn't around to enforce it. When 2012 rolled around a couple weeks ago and our resolution was officially over I found myself reluctant to go back there. However when I was grocery shopping this week and was surrounded by three whining, hungry children I got desperate and sent my husband and them off to the golden arches with $15 in hand. Then I enjoyed 45 minutes of blissful solo grocery shopping. Ahhhhh.

When we met back up my husband gave me $5 back. I was thinking to myself that $10 to feed 4 people was pretty good, when my husband asked me how much our dinner the previous night had cost. We had made Roasted Honey-Orange Chicken with roasted potatoes and butternut squash. A whole roaster chicken cost us $4, a bag of potatoes cost us $2 (of which we only used 4 potatoes), and the squash had cost us $2. Other ingredients (honey, cumin, EVOO, salt, and pepper) we had in our pantry. I estimated that the meal had cost us about $6, had fed 5 of us, and then we had leftovers for lunch for me and David for 2 days. All of the sudden the $10 we had given McDonalds wasn't looking so good.

One of the most common excuses for not eating healthy is that was can't afford it (I know, I've used this one myself). I think the real reason is we can't afford to eat healthy AND unhealthy at the same time. We can't afford a bag of apples, if we also buy a $4 bag of chips. We can't afford to buy good lean ground beef if we're also buying $7 frozen pizza. We can't afford to buy whole wheat bread if we're also buying doughnuts. And we can't afford to make Honey Chicken with potatoes and squash if we're giving (insert favorite fast food restaurant name here) $10, $15, $20 for dinner 3 times a week.

My family each got a cheeseburger, a small fry, and an apple pie for dinner. according to McDonald's website that was 780 calories per person and 36 grams of fat. Our chicken dinner the night before was 396 calories per person and 13.2 grams of fat. So now our chicken dinner is not only cheaper but has half of the calories and a third of the fat of eating out! So why don't we cook more? We don't know how to cook? We aren't good a making grocery lists? We don't have the time to cook? Let me tell you what saved the dinner meal at my house. I added dinner prep to my morning routine. Now while the kids are eating breakfast I look at what I have planned for dinner, take meat out of the freezer if necessary, do chopping if the meal has a lot of vegetables, or stick it in the crock pot if that's the way we're going. Now at 5 when it's time to make dinner I not only know what I'm going to make, but the meat is thawed and we're ready to go.

So what's your excuse? After today you won't be able to say you don't know how to cook a good meal, because here comes the recipe for roasted chicken! This was originally a Cooking Light recipe that I've altered to fit my family better. Feel free to do the same.


Roast Chicken with Cumin, Honey, and Orange

1 (3-4 lbs) roasting chicken (this is one of the cheapest ways to buy chicken)
1/2 c honey
3 tbs orange zest
1.5 tbs ground cumin
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3 garlic cloves minced

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Clean and rinse chicken, then starting at the neck carefully loosen skin from breast and drumsticks by inserting your fingers between the skin and meat.
3.Combine all the other ingredients. Rub the mixture under the loosened skin over breast meat and drumsticks.
4. Place chicken, breast side up, in a pan or on broiler pan. I use a casserole dish. Rub skin with a small amount of olive or vegetable oil. Cover loosely with foil.
5. Bake for 40 minutes, then uncover it and bake for an additional 30 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting. Discard skin for lower fat option. (Or eat it all before your kids can get there, like me)


Roasted Potatoes

1 small/med potato per person
A Little Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Seasonings like salt, pepper, garlic salt, rosemary, steak seasoning, ect

Chop your potatoes into 1-2 inch cubes (these do not have to be perfect! Just roughly the same size) I like to soak my potatoes for awhile to remove some of the starchiness. I cut them up and let them soak while I'm getting the chicken ready. Then I spread them out on a foil-covered cookie sheet. And drizzle them with a little oil, then toss them to distribute the oil evenly. Then season them with whatever you want. I used Montreal Steak Seasoning and a little garlic salt. These are also really good with fresh rosemary and a little lemon juice, or even just salt and pepper. They're your potatoes, do what you want!

Roast them until a fork goes through one easily and they are golden brown. 20-30 minutes. Keep an eye on them they vary in time. I put mine in with the chicken when I took the foil off.

So how much money do you spend not eating at home each week? How much do you spend on groceries? Next time you hit that take-out window think about what that meal is actually costing you. Now, go drink some water and check in Monday for weigh-in!