linda, you've made me hungry. :eat: that all sounds good. it's soup weather here in montana for sure.

Linda, I must make a note to get back here to read about your polenta slices. Please keep us informed about your future experiments. I love new recipes! I bought the tube once when I first started Core but it was horrible and vinegary! I assumed it was spoiled and I haven't been able to make myself try it again. Was it kind of like a chewy dumpling thingy? I'm craving dumplings pretty bad. I'm thinking about trying to make a farina dumpling like my Mom used to make. They were delicious but I'm guessing they require butter or margarine. Yumo! Can you tell I've been watching RR?

okay, vickie, now i'm hungry for dumplings, too. :lol: is farina core? what is farina anyway?

It's Core.....please don't tell me it's not! I've been feeling insecure lately because I haven't checked my books in a million years. No...it's Core. It's like Cream of Wheat but it's called Farina. It's the one with the baby on the front. I've been eating it since I was a teeny tiny child. It was the cereal that my Mom fixed me when I was sick or cold to the bone.

I like Cream of Wheat, so Farina would probably be good as well.
I found something else that I am going to try out so I can report it to you all, not sure if I'll have time today or not, but it will be soon.
My daughter has a school assignment, and it's an odd ball one. She and a partner have to produce a three course meal from the time period of Woodrow Wilson's presidency (which began in something like 1911). I was helping her research the project on line as she has been very bogged down with homework. I found out Wilson was president at the time the Titanic sank, and the menus of the least meal are posted on line, so I was able to find an entree' that was served to first class passengers the last night, before the sinking.
Now, the interesting part of this story is that I have a cook book on hand that is from the Thomas Jefferson house (Mt. Veron) and decided to go through that for a little while, as it has a few recipes and chats about food served during Jefferson's time. I figured there might be something there for use, even though his presidency was earlier. I find a recipe for crackers that appear to be made out of oatmeal, all CORE.
So, I will try to make these crackers and see how they work out. I'm sure "up" for crackers. One of my problems with CORE is that I miss my breads and crackers. WW is giving out materials for the newly revised CORE and Flex plans this upcoming week and I hope that there might be a few crackers or breads that are allowed now, that would be fabulous. But, I doubt it. I have heard that there is more leniancy to vegetarian foods, such as meat substitutes and things like that, but they are not necessarily in my diet.
At any rate, if we had a good cracker to eat that was tasty and it was totally CORE, I can envision adding garilc, herbs (to make like a Borsan (sp?) cheese) and salt to FF cream cheese and making a spread to go on top of them. Imagine having crackers and a cheese spread that was CORE over the holiday season? That would truly help out during those holiday parties, if it was tasty. It would have to be tasty, though. We would also have to remember to not overeat, as even if it is CORE we have to portion control!
Linda

Linda, have you ever tried to make these FF cheese crackers? My Niece posted this recipe a million years ago. I was with her when she made them and they INDEED did stink up MY kitchen when we let them cook too long. But, when made correctly they were kind of crunchy and would have passed for "chips". I try not to make stuff like this because I have NO control over chip anything. You may enjoy them!
I have a cheese cracker recipe that is all CORE. I found it when I was doing the Suzanne Somers Somersize diet for about five minutes! I made them this weekend and they were pretty darn good!!

Take a sheet of wax paper big enough to sit at the bottom of your microwave and spray it with Pam. Put about a tablespoon of FF cheese of any kind in different spots on the wax paper. Place in microwave and cook for about a minute 40 to a minute 50 seconds until the cheese is melted and starting to get brown. Don't let it get too brown or it will smell really bad! When it's done, let it sit for a minute or two and then you will have cheese crackers that are crunchy and are a fabulous vehicle for eating salsa or any kind of CORE dip. You can make them and keep them in a tupperware container in your fridge for about a week or so! I was so excited to actually be eating something crunchy - it was a great snack!!!

What has helped me is to get over the idea that desserts, high fat and sugary and/or salty foods are treats - they are doing damage to my body and I picture them smoothering my organs in layers of fat. Once you get away from them they don't even taste good anymore. I've been Core since it came out and love it. I do hard core.

Hmmmm...Susan, I'll have to work on that mindset! It certainly is true.

The cheese crackers sound interesting, I might try them at some point. I miss my desserts, but the sugar free fat free Jello pudding (chocolate!) made with ff milk is a pretty good substitute. I do use occasional flex points for a WW ice cream cone - 2 points.
I haven't tried the oat crackers yet, but maybe today.
I will report on them when I do try them and share the recipe if they are good. I want to try the basic recipe, but imagine one could add onion or garlic powder and herbs to them.
Linda

They are weird, Linda. They really do come out cruncy enough to hold salsa or dig in dip with.

Just a quick report in, today is weigh in and we shall see if I am adjusting well to being on CORE or not over the few weeks since Thanksgiving.
I have had some non-core foods, but I really don't know if I've exceeded my 35 flex points for the week or not and I am trying to be more "free" with myself and revert to CORE foods whenever it is possible for me to do so.
We normally eat out once or twice a week and during this last week, I didn't, and that might help with weigh in.
Eating out is wonderful and there are a few places I just love going to, but it totally throws off my weight, I think. I even feel that it's the sodium in some of the foods.
For a period of time when I was on the flex plan in the fall, every time I'd have Chinese food and knew I had plenty of flex points to allow it, my weight would go up. I swear it's the sodium in that stuff that throws my weight totally off.
At least I feel thinner today, even if the scale doesn't say so it's a nice feeling.
Linda

Linda, I hope you measured yourself when you started Core. Even if you didn't, you'll feel it in your clothes. I didn't measure myself and I wish I had. There were weeks that I didn't lose much but I knew that I was smaller.

I ate out often when I was losing and did great. It's very hard to be vigilant enough to make sure that they prepare the food the Core way.

Great luck at weigh in today. Let us know how you do.

What a good reminder, Vickie. Nobody sees the number on our scale, but they can see how our clothes fit (or don't fit, as the case may be).

Good luck on your weigh in, Linda! Here are a few lucky Core blinks for you! ;) ;) ;)

farina is like cream of wheat? awesome!! vickie, i posted to you on this week's thread about the fall muffins. we love them. they're made with cream of wheat.

linda, let us know how wi went. ;) ;) ;)

i agree with kathy. that's a great reminder. also, i think we need to take "as is" photos along our journey.

gotta go. we're going for massages. (i know. we had them last week. we're spoiling ourselves today. tomorrow we'll be more thrifty.)

Hi guys!
No, I didn't measure myself when I started, but I should have. My clothing is fitting much better, though, and my rings sometimes feel loose!
I lost a pound this week, not bad considering that I did have an ice cream sundae on Saturday afternoon and really wasn't counting my non-core foods all that much, just making sure that I was eating mainly core foods throughout each day and only including a few other foods.
So, I am pleased, I was on a plateau for a very long time before switching to CORE. I am getting used to some of the weird things about it, like not having breads, but am making breads my flex point type of additions for the most past, but not each day.
I just posted on a new thread about the new plan changes WW has made about CORE and I have to say that I am a bit annoyed with the program changes. I get why they did it, but the in between meal snack restriction and having to use flex points if you have something other than on that list is kind of crazy. I'll probably go on as I have been for the most part. I have not been having huge in between meal snacks all along.
By the way, when I was on flex, I was journaling all the time and on some weeks I wasn't using all of my 35 flex points and my weight was still plateaued. On some weeks, I would do everything right and would either stay the same or even gain a little. It was so boring and awful. If I hadn't switched to CORE, I probably would have stopped WW completely as I couldn't take it any more. All the time and effort journaling and tracking and behaving myself was getting me nowhere.
No, finally, something has clicked with CORE and I am losing again and now these plan changes that make it MORE restrictive are quite disheartening. I really think I will probably remain on the current CORE instead of the new CORE plan.
I'm wondering if you all have the new plan and what you think of it?
Linda