Hi All,
Well, I'm off to a good start! I must say I've enjoyed this week. I've made 4 cheese lasagna, curry veg. soup, lt.& fresh veg. soup, p'nut chicken stew, & fruit soup. All were terific!! I spent a lot of time in the kitchen though, which I don't mind but I won't be able to do that all the time. So I froze indiv. portions. So I have lunches & dinners in the freezer & I'll keep adding as I try more recipes. I'm excited!! I've been having soup & sandwich to work for lunch. For breakfast I've had GM Wheaties, which is what I want to ask about. The book says 2 cups is a serving (which I'm NOT complaining about) but the box says 3/4c. is 100 calories.............which should I go by?????
And the oatmeal serving seems quite LARGE too? Can I really eat this much and LOSE wt.?
I've really not been hungry betw. meals=) Today I tryed the frozen fruit smoothie-banana, pinapple, 1pk. sw.n.low, ice, & club soda to get it mixing......... it was SUPER-GREAT!!!
I've not had desserts/sweets this week either....which says a LOT for ME!!
I ate 3 plain dk. choc M&M'S just to see what they taste like (I'd never tryed them b4) & that's all I ate-3!! I didn't even want more!!! WOW!!

Good going, REGEE. I think cooking ahead and freezing in portions is one of the things that has helped me the most. I am burned out on journaling, counting, etc. I always know that my single servings are just right. Every few months, I make a gigantic turkey meatloaf. I slice it and freeze the slices individually. Then I toss it all in a freezer bag. I love meatloaf sandwiches. I also cook up a bunch of chicken breast and slice etc for chicken sandwiches. I have spent a heck of a lot of time in the kitchen, but it has paid off.

Linda, I had forgotten about your cocoa powder/yogurt desert. I will have to give that a try again.

Tonight I had a really gigantic stir fry. I told DH to watch out - I will probably explode sometime during the night. Anyway, 3 oz chicken breast, diced, onions, bokchoy, bell pepper, bean sprouts, asparagus, garlic and spinach. I love beansprouts - the seem like some kind of pasta. The only significant calories in all that is the chicken and the oil (1.5 Tbs). I used canola oil.

My DH likes to make Betty Crocker cakes. The store had them on sale for $.99, but you had to buy ten at once. So I did. Other than that, everything else I got was fresh and unprocessed. My fridge is full of produce and chicken. A friend went to the peach orchard and brought us back another 20 lbs. So, I have no excuses for not eating healthily. Other than 10 cake mixes. LOL.

Oh, yes, someone was talking about center cut bacon. It looks just like regular bacon with the fatty ends cut off. Only it really wasn't that lean and Hormel brand cost over $6/pound (yikes). I think I could just trim regular bacon. I thought the term "center cut" meant it was a different cut of meat.

The desk-top has an appointment for this afternoon about 3 . . . add to the time estimate from the 'wizard-guy' of 5 or 6 hours in his shop plus another hour or two when he brings it back, the fact that it is the weekend, and the fact that Hanna is supposed to hit us late Saturday (with possible power outages), I have absolutely no idea when I will get back on-line.

In the meantime . . . hope everybody has a good weekend.

Hi Regee- This diet plan is good, but I think it's just like everything in life- if something seems too good to be true, then it really is. I would suggest taking the serving amounts and calculating the ED number and seeing if it's acceptable with the Wheaties, and with the oatmeal I would double check if you're measuring it dry or cooked. You still need to watch the carb amounts you're having. Adding ED things to them makes them more acceptable to eat, which usually means adding fruit or milk. Lots of times I eat just plain oatmeal, uncooked, with fruit and milk- it's kind of like granola, but without any additives at all. I like it a lot just like that, but you can also add sweetener if you need to.

I don't know about wheaties, but I use 1/2 c dry oatmeal to about 1 C of water. The box says this is 150 calories. I eat oatmeal and fruit almost every morning.

Different things work for different people. I seem to be in the "eat all the time" school. I always need a snack between breakfast and lunch, but if I didn't do that I would eat a bigger breakfast.

For lunch today I made fish tacos. I cut up a small tilapia filet and fried it in about 1.5tsp oil. Shredded purple cabbage, red bell pepper, green onions, placed this on a warmed tortilla topped with the fish and a lime-yogurt-cilantro mix. Quite tasty and pretty.

Well, Linda, we'll see you when we see you! I will be interested to hear what was going on with your computer. Mine is working really well this morning. I hope you don't have too much trouble with Hannah.

Tonight, I ate "salade a la Linda" - romaine, feta, and blueberries with raspberry vinaigrette. In my opinion this is a really great combination. I bought a bag of frozen blueberries. By the time I finished everything for dinner, the blueberries were just right. In fact, the blueberries were so sweet and juicy, I had to get the package back out of the freezer and check if they had sugar added. Nope. I was looking for frozen raspberries yesterday, but I could only find the kind with sugar added.

I'm talking to myself. LoL. I made a big recipe of butternut squash soup. Recipe from cooking light. It is resting comfortably in the freezer.

hi all- it's been a great relaxing weekend. yesterday and today the db and i got in a great walk with the puppy.

Hi, I have been doing good:-) Today I made a Vol. Pizza & it was GREAT!!
I put 3 slices in the freezer & 2 in the frig. for this week.I had an omelet this AM and it was really good too. I'm soooo glad I found this way of eating & this site!! I have not weighted myself in a couple of wks. but I FEEL a lot better w/myself!!

Sorry it's been a while since I posted...back to driving the bus, and life in general...

Eldest son is rapidly finalizing his Eagle project for Scouts, and the parental assistance needed therein; the garden is starting to produce many tomatoes (and weeds...); DH has been called in twice this weekend to cover the third shift (he's a tuckered pup, to be sure); and the various and sundry day-to-day chores, distractions, and "Mom, I have a question..." - that would be youngest son.

Good thing, though - all these tomatoes mean it's time for my favorite meals. I just finished a yummy tomato/bread salad - Chopped tomatoes, tossed with a light sprinkle of salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar. As I am a garlic fiend, I sauteed 3 sliced cloves in a tablespoon of olive oil until lightly golden - I drained most of the oil (ended up with about a teaspoon), and added the oil and garlic to the 'maters - along with chopped fresh basil, a sprinkling of balsamic vinegar, and a 1/2 ounce grated parm cheese. The bread - I toasted it, rubbed both sides with a clove of garlic (mmmmmm), cut it into cubes (you can toast it again for crunch factor) - then tossed it in with the tomato mixture. You can wait a bit and let the bread soak up the juices - I generally dig right in, crunch factor.

The other recipe is in the oven - roasted tomatoes and herbs. I coat the bottom of a roasting pan with olive oil (2-3 T), halve or quarter the tomatoes, lay them cut side down in the pan (this uses a lot of tomatoes). I coarsely chop garlic (1-2 heads, peeled), scattered over the tomatoes, then sprinkled with salt & pepper, and whole herb leaves (basil, thyme, sage, parsley - whatever sounds good). Place in 250 degree oven for a good part of the day - the juices will carmelize, the tomatoes will wrinkle and shrink down, the garlic will brown, the herbs will darken and dry out. We usually spread the tomatoes over a good italian bread, or I'll whir the whole batch in the food processor - the sauce created is incredible.

mmmmmm - love the 'mater season....

I have made that tomato bread salad. Yummy. Anything with tomatoes and garlic has to be good.

Here's hoping that Linda didn't get blown away by Hannah. I saw on tv yesterday where Hannah had gotten to the Canadian Maritimes.

hi all

Judi- welcome back to work!!!

I tried to post yesterday, but got bumped, so I'm trying again today.

This time of year, (with all the tomatoes,) for lunch I cut up tomatoes, put them in a small bowl, top with LF cottage cheese and seasoned salt. Stir. If I'm still hungry, I have an LT- it's a BLT without the B. Yum!

Still no Linda, so I guess she's having some serious computer issues...

Liz - hmmmm - the tomatoes w/cottage cheese sounds intriguing - I've never really eaten cottage cheese "as is" (usually cooked or mixed with something else), and that salad might just bring me into the "CC Camp"! I'll give it a shot for lunch today.

Yeah - Linda's 'puter issues seem to have kept her off 3FC - hope she's back soon!

I'm back . . . finally.

Don't know when (if ever) I'll actually get caught up after being off-line since Friday the 5th. I think it's going to take a week to find all my stuff and somethings may have just gone off into never-never-land forever. Most of my software is reloaded but actual application files have disappeared.

Never a dull moment . . .