Good afternoon everyone

I hope you are all having a good weekend. I'm having my family over for dinner to-day but I am all caught up with the preparations so have a little time to sit and try to respond to some posts. I'm so far behind I think I will have to start at the end and work backwards! I've had a busy week plus worked a late shift followed by a day shift yesterday and was all pooped out last night. I went to bed at 7 and slept until midnight then was up a couple of hours before trying to get to sleep again. Was up again at 6 this morning so got some chores done nice and early.

I've made Debs's Cheesecake for dessert but this time made it with a crust. I used Special K for the crust - I've had this recipe for ages but this is the first time I have used it. I must say it tasted pretty good before it was cooked - I would say as good as the graham cracker crust. Hope it tastes as good now it's cooked but I have to wait to find out. We're having ham, green beans, cauliflower and green salad. Also spiced Uncle Ben's rice. I've also made a trifle - I know not op but it is my family's favorite and this time I used agave in the custard so I won't feel guilty eating that part of it.

Solshine - Thanks for posting the recipes. I am definitely going to try the pot roast. BTW Did you get the e-mail I sent you last week?

Fillise - Have fun with the Easter egg hunt tomorrow.

Frog - It's good to see you back. Thanks for letting us know that Deb arrived safely. I just know you will enjoy your visit with her.

Yellowrose - I didn't know what polydextrose was so I did a search on GOOGLE and this is what I found:

Polydextrose

Polydextrose is a multi-purpose additive synthesized from dextrose (glucose), plus about 10 percent sorbitol and 1 percent citric acid. It is commonly used as a replacement for sugar, starch, and fat in commercial cakes, candies, dessert mixes, gelatins, frozen desserts, puddings, and salad dressings. The amount of polydextrose used can vary depending on the type of product, examples include frozen dessert, 13 to 14 percent; puddings, 8 to 9 percent; and cake 15 to 16 percent.

How is Polydextrose regulated?

The FDA approved Polydextrose in 1981. The FDA requires that any serving of food that contains one-half ounce of polydextrose must be labeled with the following: "Sensitive individuals may experience a laxative effect from excessive consumption of this product."

What are the health effects of polydextrose?

There is no evidence that polydextrose is carcinogenic or mutagenic, however, as with many fat replacement products, it may interfere with the absorption of certain essential nutrients and produce flatulence and diarrhea when consumed in high quantities.

This is another brief description I found: It is a unique reduced-calorie (one calorie/gram) bulking agent that can be substituted for sugars and, in some instances fats."

I personally think we are better keeping away from the sf candy - I think almonds would be a better choice. If we consume too much sweet tasting stuff, even if it doesn't contain sugar, the body can be fooled and still have an insulin response.

Toni48 - Glad you enjoyed the visit with the grandkids. Too bad they live so far away from you that you don't get to see them too often. We have to make the most of them while they are young as they grow up so quickly.

Adronsgirl - Sorry to hear about the work situation but perhaps it is all for the best if you can be at home spending more time with the kids. I hope your home business is successful.

Beth - Congrats on the 21 pound milestone. WTG.

TotosMom - Welcome to SB. I would encourage you to read the book to get a good understanding of this woe and if you have any questions just ask. Someone is sure to be able to help you. This is a great board for support and friendship. I look forward to getting to know you.

Zanne - Thanks for the kind words. I too really enjoyed our meeting. It was like meeting an old friend. I was in the new Dominion store in R.H. to-day and I found the SNYDERS Oat Bran Pretzels. These are the ones I was telling you about that I was looking for when I was in Orlando but was unable to find them. I don't know if you are a spaghetti eater but I was on the Aussie web site yesterday and there was a list of some new products that had been tested and one was UNICO's White Durum Wheat Spaghetti which had a gi of 44. There was no indication tho of how long it had been cooked, as we know that 'al dente' does reduce the gi. Just thought I would share it with you as it is a Canadian brand.

Well I know I still haven't got to everybody but I have to stop and go and get my ham in the oven before the family descends on me.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Marie.

Just checking in, reading posts. It is raining here, heavily and has been off and on all day. We needed the rain, and I am thankful that I finally finished pruning all my roses! whew! I have about 80, and it takes me a while to do them all. I am slow!

I just read on the internet news that England's Queen Mother died today. She was 101 1/2. She was a remarkable woman, with lots of style. I wish I could look at good as she did at 102 when I am even 75! Of course, she could afford the best clothes, and the best anything she wanted. The article said she never forgave Wallis Simpson for making Edward VIII abdicate, which made her husband king.

SOL: Glad you liked the egg foo yung recipe! It is a staple around here! Add more eggs to the recipe if you have a big appetite! The veggies are like NO calories! If there are any other Asian recipes you want, please ask! I have TONS of recipes! Many are low carb, and suitable for SB.

FROG: Thanks for the belated birthday greetings! It would be great to meet you if you are ever in Atlanta - especially if you are around Gwinnett Mall. I live fairly close to it. Just let me know!

BETH: wow! Congrats on the 20 pound milestone! I am almost there...just about two pound more! I am excited, since my doctor is working so hard to figure out what I need to lose. I was thinking about how hard it has been, and how discouraged I was getting over the years. I at least feel hopeful now.

GRACIOUS: Enjoy the Easter play! Sounds like fun! Splitting wood is definitely men's work! You won't miss a thing at home! Hope you hubby is feeling good, and your Easter service goes well tomorrow. I think we will go at 7am. I don't want to even SEE the crowd we will have at 11! The church is big as it is...about 5,000 members, but on holidays, we have TONS of visitors, and the traffic, parking, and crowds intimidate me!

FILLESE: My crazy yellow tabby is outside someplace in the rain! He acts really strange when it rains a lot. If he is inside and it is thundering, he is under the bed, or sofa, or will even sit in your lap! Lap sitting is something he would NEVER do otherwise! You are lucky in that Belle is at least affectionate. I miss that with this cat.... so aloof! sigh.


Now someone tell me honestly, how do you keep track of all the posts to reply? Do you take notes while reading? I get so confused! I am trying hard to get better at it. If someone has some tips, share please! And if I don't seem like I am friendly, or something, it is cause I get lost! I really struggle with details!

Happy Holidays to all!

Monet - I always type in my posts using NOTEPAD then copy and post into the reply page when I am finished. If you open NOTEPAD while you are reading the posts you can flip from one to the other and either make notes for later or type in the responses as you go along. Another way is to tile the windows horizontally so you have both NOTEPAD and the BOARD on the screen at the same time. But this gives you a much smaller window for reading the posts. I used to do it this way but find the first way I described better.

Marie.

I've wondered about this too; I think there are quite a few "atkins-type' prducts that I've heard of but never looked for. Would arrowroot be legal? Or I know guar gum is a no calorie thickener often used commercially. There's also agar-agar, which is a vegetarian gelatin type product. It would probably just be a matter of figuring out equivalent measures.

Laura

H A P P Y E A S T E R

Happy Easter Everyone! Since we had the GK all week we're spending a quiet day at home. Enjoying the beautiful sunshine.

Bob-I hope you have a great afternoon luncheon.

Semmens- I've wondered about arrowroot too. They sell it here at the healthstore.

Sef-I was wondering if the arrowroot that Semmens was talking about would work for your Asian food? What a wonderful GD you have! You sure didn't do bad if that catfish was the only cheat. I'd love to try a sf blueberry pie.

Rosalie- I could kiss you for saying how you did posts. I have such a bad memory I've just been struggling with posting and it takes so long. I had my husband show me how to use the wordpad for this and I love it. Thanks for the good article on Polydextrose. Your dinner sounds wonderful. Do you have that special K crust recipe on the recipes. I would love to have it.

Monet320-Oh my gosh 80 roses! I can imagine how absolutly beautiful your yard must be..And now the rain will really make the great. We're lucky here in Missouri we have beautiful sunshine today. Thats sad about the Queen Mother.

Solshine-Can't wait to go look at your recipe. That Savory Beef sounds so good... Hope you got all your stuff done and have a great week-end.

Fillise-You're still my hero! I tried more protein yesterday to get those craving gone and I'm so much better today.

Frog-Good to see you. My goodness your name fits. You just hop in and out like a frog. LOL...Oh I just loved your story about your GM in the nurseing home. That gives me a good chuckle everytime I think about it. Sometimes that chocolate gets a real grip on ya.... I don't know about your vulvodinia but I hope your doc appt. goes well and they can find something to help...

Yellowrose-Hope you have a great Easter..

Adronsgirl-Hi!

Beth2374-Big Congradulations... That is a milestone and you should be proud as punch.

Guess thats it for now.. Hope everyone has the best day ever....

Zippy banana buns signing out..
213/200/130

Toni48 - Glad I was able to help you with the posts. The Special K Pie Crust recipe was posted by DEBELLI on the November 2000 Recipe Board. I have brought it to the top to make it easier to find.

HAPPY EASTER

Marie.

Oh thank you, I'm over to the recipe board!!!

Happy Easter to all! We had a wonderful service today and had some visitors from the community who came because of the Good Friday Service, which is wonderful. We are having our Easter Dinner tomorrow and I have invited a new couple to our church. I am doing a turkey with all the fixings so there will be enough legal stuff for me to eat and all the illegal stuff for my family and friends to enjoy!

I nearly lost it about a half hour ago. My son was eating a snack sized Twix from his Easter egg hunt and I was eyeballing it rather seriously. We did the hunt yesterday but I was not tempted at all. I don't know what got into me but I asked my 3 year old if I could have one...he happily obliged and handed me one. I took one tiny bite and tasted it then immediately jumped up and spit it out without swallowing. I couldn't do it!! I was so pleased then for another quick moment I looked up and saw a package of sesame bagels sitting there calling my name. Oh my, that was even harder. I took the package and began to rationalize things...TOM is here, I have done so good, why not treat myself, etc....well...I dropped those bagels like a hot potato and high-tailed it out of the kitchen. Scary how that can happen! I refuse to give in though and will have a nice salad very soon to fill the void. I just had to get out of that kitchen...flee the temptation.

MONET- The Easter Play was wonderful and very worshipful...and my sirloin steak was AWESOME!! I also had some mussels cause it was surf and turf.

I can't even imagine 5000 people in one church building. That is 5X the population of our whole town! Yikes.

SEF & SEMMENS- I use guar gum to thicken things because the carb count is negligable. It does a good job, you just have to make sure you don't use too much or else you will get *glue* I know that Monet says she uses the SGWW Pastry Flour to thicken lots of things too.

BETH- How can I get invited to that Easter Egg Hunt with the cash filled eggs?? Glad things seem to be turning around for you.

FILLISE- Wanted to say congrats on your great loss. You have done a fantastic job of it and I must say you are inspiring to me because of it!

FROG LOVER- Hubby is hanging in there, thanks for thinking of him. He did a great job of preaching all weekend and I am so happy the Lord kept him going through it all. Still struggling with the nausea but it seems to become more infrequent and we are thankful for that.

Guess I will sign off now. It is a gorgeous day here today and I walked 4 kms in 35 minutes. I usually ride the bike but thought this would give me some more variety. I liked it and could feel muscles that I haven't noticed before so I know that is a good thing.

Blessed Easter to you all!

I had wanted to go to the early service, but we stayed up too late, so we went at nine. We got there early, so we did get seats. The traffic going out was awful! The service was great tho. We have an awesome Worship and Arts department, and the choir was incredible. They did the Hallelujah chorus, and I had tears streaming down my cheeks.

I made a nice dinner for the family, Rock Cornish game hens. I had never had they before. It was good. I made too much food tho...so guess I will have salad as a late supper later.

SEF: I have used guar gum for thickening some. I don't mind it, but my family complains that it is slimy. Arrowroot is a traditional thickener for Asians, but I do not know if it is SB legal. Agar Agar will not work...it is more like gelatin. I would suggest trying guar gum, and if you don't like it try arrowroot. I often try to make my stir fries in such a way that I can reduce the sauce with no thickener. I have several recipes that did that, which gave me the idea. It works ok. The thickened sauce is not essential to the flavor...

SEMMENS: The agar agar works great for making jello like consistency dishes, but I am not sure it would work for a sauce. Have you tried it? I have made almond jello with it, and another odd Asian pudding that sets up like jello, but I am not sure it would be feasible to use a small enough amount to just kind of thicken a sauce. Have you seen it in any form other than a hunk of spongy looking stuff? I get it at the Asian market, and that is what it looks like. I have never seen it in say, instant form. It would be cool if it came like that!

TONI: Yep, 80 rose. I had a serious addiction that I think I am getting over. The cure has been a serious lazy streak I have. The pruning and spraying take a more ordered person than I am. I even got some very expensive fungicide so I would not have to spray as often, and I still forget to spray! It doesn't help the blackspot much in the bottle! I do love them when they are blooming. I wish they looked beautiful, but I have to be honest and admit that they don't. I am slowly replacing the fussier varieties with those that thrive on neglect. Once I finish, I think it will be rather charming! I guess once they start blooming, I will forget the hard work. All it takes is one whiff of a good fragrant one, and I will have rose fever all over again!

ROSALIE: Thanks for the tip on how to keep up with the posts! I will try that. I should have done it this time, but forgot! At least there were not as many as usual, so I am not as lost!

GRACIOUS: Glad you enjoyed the play. And pat yourself on the back for spitting that candy out! How naughty of you to ask your three year old, who you know would never refuse you! You should ask your EIGHT year old, who would probably tell you no way, you are on a diet! (they get even worse! my fifteen year old will take things away from me, please her heart! LOL ) Yep, the church is 5k members. Maybe more. There were at least 2,500 at the service I went to this morning. The auditorium seats 2200, and they were full and had people in the overflow rooms. In the overflow rooms, we have live video, so it is not too bad. At one point a year and a half ago, we were the fastest growing church in north America. It is a good church, determined to impact the area for Jesus. We have started over ten sister congregations around the city as well. All combined, there would be a membership of probably close to 15,000. It is exciting to see the growth. If you are interested in it at all, check out the web page. It is perimeter.org.

I just had my Easter candy...a low carb chocolate bar. Yum! Thankfully, it was the last one in the house!

Toni- I did, I did! Sheesh, I was really tempted. I just made and ate a big salad so I hope I can last the night. You know how some days are worse than others? I guess this is one of the *worse* ones. Hubby is out and the kids are all in bed now, that makes it even harder for me cause I know no one is watching. I will hang in there though.

How is your treadmill coming along, Toni? I found this week hard because I was so busy. I like it when everything goes according to plan. I am an administrative sort and don't like it when there is a wrench thrown into my exercise plans or plans of any kind for that matter.

Monet- I visited your church site. It was excellent. Well done for certain and I was pleased to read that your church holds to the Westminster Confession of Faith. We are truly like minded in doctrine! We hold to the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith which is akin to the Westminster but is Baptistic in its view of baptism. Looks like a wonderful work and I rejoice with you that the body is reaching out into the surrounding areas and the whole world for that matter and bringing the Good News of Jesus to them.

Happy Easter Everyone!

I'm back from the camp and we had a very relaxing time! It was very nice to do absolutely nothing! We laid in the sun on Friday and needless to say we got our first sunburns of the season! We were so burnt that we didn't go out to the beach yesterday!! That was bad! I hate when we do that but the weather was so nice we didn't feel like we were getting burnt cause it wasn't hot!!! Get my drift?!?

I did really well with my eating! I think the scale will be in the 250s tomorrow - which will make me very happy! I'm already fitting in clothes that I had in my closet from last summer that didn't fit me a month ago.

Well, just wanted to check in...hope you all have been doing good! I'll catch up on the posts later!!

Bye!
Missy
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