Well, I spent the last week homesick and depressed. Haven't seen my family back home in 4 yrs and my Daddy is 90. I think DH has been feeling the same way since none of our kids are going to be here this year. Just the 2 of us. Then yesterday I began to think about how things were the 1st 2 yrs after my previous hubby died. Tony and I met online 2 yrs after our spouses died. We were lost without our sweethearts of over 30 yrs of marriage. I reminded DH of how we felt and how blessed we are to have found eache other. So this year instead of doing Christmas to make our kids and their families happy, we are going to do what pleases us.

We are having DH family traditional Christmas ham (we had turkey in my family because ham was for New Yrs dinner which DH family didn't celebrate). DH DD always makes potato salad because she is convinced is his favorite (he's never told her it isn't). His Mother always made homemade noodles which is his favorite so I'm making them for him. This southern girl loves cornbread dressing which I'm making a small batch. We both love green beans. I bought them fresh to cook and then I will make me a salad with kale. Love that stuff. Got to have it at least once a day. No baking this year although I do intend to have our favorite desserts. They have single servings of pies, so I got his favorite and mine so we will eat one serving and quit. Very carby, but will be back on low carb the next day.

Y'all have a very Merry Christmas!!!

I just finished the last of my Christmas baking. I am so exhausted I could just drop. Tomorrow I will clean up and be ready for the big day. I'm not cooking a big meal, a baked ham and potato salad (it IS my dh's favorite LOL ) a new brussels sprouts recipe and dips and spreads for crackers. I had to throw in the brussels sprouts so we will have SOMETHING healthy.

Everyone have a good holiday. See you on the flip flop!

Carol Sue If the Brussel sprouts recipe turns out good, please share. I usually just steam mine and put either butter or coconut oil on them. I thought that was funny that your DH's favorite is hamd and potato salad. LOL

Although brussels sprouts are healthy, this recipe is not completely healthy. I got it from a free recipe booklet that Aldi's was handing out for the holidays. It has 28 great recipes in it, with photos. From main courses, to appetizers, to side dishes and desserts.

I will let you know how this turn out and if my family likes it. I think most of them like brussels sprouts.

Beyond Compare Brussels Sprouts

1 box Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
1 cup frozen corn, thawed
8 slices of bacon
3 - 3.5 lb brussels sprouts trimmed and halved
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 C finely chopped onion
1/2 cup chicken stock (optional)

Prepare muffin mix according to pkg, stirring thawed corn into batter.
Cook bacon, reserving drippings. Crumble when cooled
Place brussels sprouts on baking pan and toss with bacon drippings, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Roast 15-20 min.
Break corn muffins into bite size pieces and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 min until golden brown and crispy.
Carmelize onion in small frying pan.
Just before serving, toss brussels sprouts with 3/4 of the crumbled bacon, carmelized onions and corn muffin crumbles. If desired, add chicken stock to moisten. Pour into a serving bowl and garnish with remaining crumbled bacon.

You could probably omit the bacon, or cut back to 4 slices. You could toss the brussels sprouts with EVOO instead of the bacon drippings. You could omit the corn in the corn bread, and if you are watching your carbs, each person could exclude the corn bread cubes from their portion. My meal is not healthy overall, with the ham and potato salad and all the cookies I baked. It's only 1 day. If I prepared a heart healthy and diabetic friendly meal my company would go somewhere else to eat. LOL

My meal is not a sit-down dinner for Christmas. It will all be set out on the table and each person can eat when they want to. I'm going to put the brussels sprouts in my very small slow cooker to keep them warm.

Here is a cauliflower recipe from the same booklet.

Roasted Cauliflower with Cranberries and Crispy Onions

1 head cauliflower
3 TBS EVOO divided
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3/4 cup french fried onions divided
1/2 cup dried cranberries divided
\1/2 cup chopped pistachios divided (I would omit these)
8 oz ricotta cheese

Preheat oven to 375.

Cut cauliflower into bite-size florets. Place on lg baking sheet and toss with 2 TBS olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 10 min. Remove cauliflower from oven. Add 1/2 cup of the french fried onions to the cauliflower on the baking sheet and toss. Place remaining onions off to one side of the baking sheet. (these will be used as garnish.) Roast mixture an additional 10 min or until cauliflower reaches desired tenderness and onions are brown and crisp.

In a small bowl, combine ricotta cheese with 1 tbs olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.

Set aside 2 TBS each of dried cranberries and pistachios (to be used as garnish.)

In a med bowl, toss warm cauliflower mixture with dried cranberries and pistachios. Spoon ricotta mixture on top and fold gently, leaving large bits of ricotta. Garnish with reserved cranberries, pistachios and crispy onions. Serve immediately.

I would like this, but my family would probably be picking out the cranberries. LOL

The brussels sprouts turned out good. I had an abundance of baby carrots so I added carrots to it and everyone liked that idea, and it looked so pretty in the bowl. I only used a small amount of the bacon fat and used mostly EVOO to coat the veggies. I didn't put the corn in the cornbread because I figured it would all fall out when I crumbled it, and I only used a little more than half of the crumbled cornbread. I just added a little at a time until it "looked" right. Everyone liked it. I did add a small amount of chicken stock for moisture. The recipe is a keeper!

Just checking in to say I'm leaving 3fc. I've just spent almost 10 minutes just trying to get on this thread to post this message. There are so many pop ups on here that I'm constantly fighting to get rid of them and then DH has to work on my pc to straighten it out so I can use it. I have absolutely no problems like this on any other site that I go to so I have to believe my problems come from 3fc.

I didn't want to just leave without telling y'all why.

Hope everyone had a good Christmas. I actually didn't eat as much as I thought I would, but was salty so swelled pretty good today. I am back OP today. So things are going good for me.

If things ever change here with my pc, I'll be back, but it just isn't worth all the hassle.

Love you guys and will miss you loads.

Pattygirl63 - I have the same problems!

What browser are you using? IE? Try switching to Firefox.

Ruth - Thank you. I will try that.

weigh is finally coming back down 178.4 this morning fbs 130

Decided to try this again. I will tell DH about the Firefox. I do us IE and it is driving me nuts. I thought it was happening mostly here, but I think it is happening some in other places as well now and IE just might be the problem. Thanks Ruthie. I just can't stay away from you guy as we've all been together for so long that y'all are like family. I would really miss y'all.

I got a coupon/invitation in the mail to re-join WW online for 50% off of the 3 month sign up fee and I decided to take advantage of it. I've been eating fairly healthy except for Christmas day, but just not getting my portions under control. WWPP helps me do that. I am really enjoying it and the best part is that the weight is finally moving in the right direction. I gained during the holidays and weighed 238 on the day after Christmas. I was down to 234.6 this morning so I just might end up with the ticker being right or even moved a little bit by January 1st. I am committed to being a lot thinner as well as healthier by this time next year.

I did get 3 days of exercise this past week doing a mile each day. Will get back to the 2 miles and learning more Tai Chi this week. Not waiting until the New Year to get with it.

thinin08 Welcome!!!

Rennie Glad the scale is moving down for you again.

Carol Sue My new greens that I love cooked with a little coconut oil for flavor is collard greens. Girls at the beauty shop were talking about them yesterday so I bought them frozen. Haven't tried them raw. Buying in bulk isn't good for me because they go bad. My son says I used to cook them and I'm sure I did when I went to WW back in the sixties when we had to eat greens. The difference is that we ate them out of a can. These are frozen and tasted sweet. I don't know if that is because they aren't canned or maybe the touch of coconut oil, but they were really good and makes a nice change to the kale which I will have later for dinner.

I got 2 of those Stone Wave cookers advertised on tv. They are a perfect size for making a hot snack. Today I got hungry before I really want to eat a meal. I took 0 veggies and added a little vegetable broth and water a little Ms. Dash and microwaved and had a soup to eat to hold me until meal time. Basically 0 to 1 pt and I'm satisfied until meal time. BTW, I love those Stone Wave cookers for cooking for just 1. I went back and got 2 more and still may get 2 or 3 more. DH is one of those people who eats his food in stages. Start with salad, then have meat or main course then his veggies one at a time never mixed. This way I can put his in the little cooker, leave in microwave until he is ready to eat it or take to table with lid and it stay hot.

Fatmad and others

Hi Everyone

Thanks Trish I'm glad you're back Sounds like you've got it together as usual I would like to try weight watchers again it's been a very long time. I also signed onto the Nutrisystem site but it's so expensive. If they'd take installments I would definitely give them a shot. Can't hurt

Switched to Firefox and got rid of the pop ups so I'm back here with no problems. Nice. Just have to learn how to use it. Really glad to have this fixed. Thanks Ruthie.

I'm really enjoying the WWPP woe. I'm just going to have to figure out something else to munch on at night besided popcorn. I like it but not all the time. I'll have to figure out some low/0 pts snack foods. I'm really enjoying it. I'm getting plenty of fiber naturally as it has really been sending me to the potty a lot. Also I actually rode my stationary bike for 2.5 miles. So I'm proud of myself for that.

Plan to go out for steak tomorrow, but it is really easy to eat OP when we go out for steak. I just get salad, steak and veggies and always drink lemon water when eating out.

Catch y'all tomorrow.

Happy Day

on a good note I loss 5.6lbs for the month, fbs has been up and down this holiday season … hoping for some stability in the new year.

Happy New Year to ALL, Blessings