Have a good day at PI, Cyndi. I just took a batch of tomato slices out of the dehydrator and thought of you, The Duchess of Dehydration. My zucchini plants produced nothing this year but I may buy :yikes: some zukes just to have the chips. The dried tomatoes are great scoops for hummus, by the way.

Yesterday was a horrible day weatherwise - muggy and showery. Jazz started his day by getting out of the yard and romping in the meadow. Luckily he comes when I spot him and call. I just cannot find how he gets out. That was not a good start to the day. Boating was canceled so I spent most of the day trudging through accounting crud. There will be more of that this morning after Church, alas. The good news is that I've figured out how to generate the reports and just need to "massage" the data a bit.

Tried to find kale seeds yesterday but there were none to be found around here. I guess I'll just bung in more spinach seeds or even chard. The garden is slowly winding down which is "a good thing". Next year the veggie garden will be 1/3 the size! (Remind me of that in the spring when I get all keen.)

This sounds like a sort of crabby post. I think we need a good rain to clear the air and I need to figure out something fun to do later today. I don't want to grow up to be a grouchy old lady!

Enjoy the middle day of our long weekend.

Enjoy your trip at PI today, Cyndi! I might have to try the zucchini chips as well, although I think my zucchini plant has about had it!

I have a dessert night tonight (for a family bible study), bringing dessert optional. I realized I should if I want something even close to OP. I was doing phase I, then added fruit back in. I'm hoping to avoid grains, but I'm okay with lower amounts of sugar...any recommendations?

ruth - you reminded me I need to go buy some seeds....I may plant tomorrow since it's still supposed to be hot and muggy today, dropping nearly 20 degrees tomorrow. I wonder how that little devil is getting out?!?!

Good morning. :coffee: The weather looks dreadful here, and I was reluctant to leave my bed. At least there, I could pull the covers over my head and ignore what was happening outside.

Twynn, how about mixing jello with nf yogurt or Cool Whip, making sort of a mousse? You could spoon it into a cookie crust for a nice pie, and just eat the filling for yourself. That makes an easy and yummy light dessert. Lemon is especially good. :)

Ruth, I think it's time to plan a roadtrip for yourself. ;) I hear the Philly area is especially nice. :D

Cyndi, have a good day at PI! Unfortunately, Lee does look like it's eyeing our part of the country, so enjoy your outdoor time now.

What is it with zucchini this year? I didn't get much this year, either, and the groundhogs and I had a tug-of-war over what did grow. I had to buy a basket of them just so I'd have some to dehydrate.
We're still getting plenty of tomatoes, chard, peppers and eggplant, but everything else is done. I may still plant some lettuces and baby spinach for fall crops, but it's too late for anything else. Hopefully, my chard will keep producing for a while yet.
Well, let me get going and decide what to do today. Another cup of coffee sounds good. :)

Oh, cottage you're right - the weather forecast looks yucky!! Storms all day - doesn't look good for working in the garden.

Shhhh...I'm making the chocolate decadence for dessert tonight. No flour, but LOTS of chocolate. Then I can have a tiny sliver, and let someone else take it home!

Twynn---that sounds heavenly!! Recipe??

Cottage-I made a delicious dessert with Jello that had ricotta folded in! I love it. I used raspberry but lemon sounds delicious as well.

Cyndi, et al-do you think I could do all of those "dehydrating" things in the oven at that low temp for a long time like I saw them do with the zucchini? If so, I would definitely try the tomatoes from the garden as well. For the zucchini they recommended (I think) 100 degrees for 6 to 8 hours. I'm starting to wonder if I could just do that with anything you could normally put in a dehydrator. Although, I'm just now thinking that my vintage oven is NOT good at holding a good temp, it somehow finds itself creeping up and up and up. I'll have to see how this goes.

Off until 6 p.m. tonight when I have to go in for monthly inventory at the restaurant. I love it, because it always feels like an extra day off because I'm home all day and just go in from 6 - midnight.

On the website Kalyn's Kitchen I found a P1 dessert recipe using unsweetened coconut. It's not on the eat lots of list, but it's also not on any other lists. Would you guys consider that OP for P1?

Alright. Time for coffee and CBS Sunday Morning :)

southmplsgirl - http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/dess...late-cake.html

The guy, Matt, worked with me and dropped 50 lbs on south beach... he was on here just a little bit. He's doing his first marathon this fall! He made it for my birthday, and brought it to work. Not "on plan" by any means, but I'd rather have a sliver of this, than a bunch of flour items. It is VERY rich.

Hey, all:) I've been lazy this weekend. And yesterday I literally lounged on my couch all day and read a book! I can't remember the last time I did that. So, today my back hurts and I wonder if that's why. The bad news is that part of why I don't do that anymore is that reading leads to snacking. Yep, not a good eating day. I've been really struggling, up and down, on and off plan, with my eating since our college road trip. I need to get back on track consistently! I feel so much better when I eat well... why don't I remember that before I put my hand into my husband's box of cereal?!

Good Morning:sunny:

It's a beautiful day here! We decided to forgo church and have a quiet morning at home. Kirk wants to pool, but I've decided to stay home and get organized. I certainly have lots of niggles...the first four are mandatory!

1.pitch any leftovers from the BBQ that I don't need to eat...potato salad and white rolls
2.make a OP food plan for the next week
3.start a pot of beans and steam the two spaghetti squash on my counter
4.make a nice salad for lunch

Hope you're all having a wonderful day!

Angie, unfortunately, coconut is not allowed on Phase 1. But! You can enjoy it occasionally on Phase 2. ;) If you Google, you can find directions for a simple box to make a sun dehydrator for outdoors. That would be an inexpensive solution for your dehydrating needs. You could do it on a low temp setting in your oven, but it would have to be consistent and it takes forever.

The sun came out, and although it's still pretty muggy, it's not too bad of a day after all. The kids and grandkids are all coming over later for BBQ-ing and swimming, and DD's family is planning to stay overnight. :)

Cottage - Thank you for responding to my coconut question...I'll hold on to the coconut I bought for another week or so, and then give the macaroons a try :)

Zucchini is in the oven right now, I had to rig an open oven door situation with some twine around the door handle and a knob on the oven. It's pretty funny, but the only way I have figured out to keep our rickety old oven below 200. We'll see if it's a consistent enough temperature for successful dehydrating. I'll definitely have to look into that sun dehydrator. The problem in Minnesota, at least I would think, is that by the time all my tomatoes are ripe, it's going to be pretty chilly outside, but maybe that doesn't matter.

Off to the dog park with my two little buddies. :D it's about 60 degrees here with a dry and cool autumn breeze, so different from most of your weather situations today!

I woke up feeling kind of queasy this morning and when I took my vitamins & meds I started feeling even worse. I decided to drink a protein shake just to get something on my stomach, thank goodness it made me feel better. I was able to eat some bell pepper strips for my breakfast veg. Sometimes I have issues like that when I wake up, but I'm happy to say that this was my first episode since I started SB 2 weeks ago.

This morning the family wanted me to make belgian waffles. I guess I have to make them happy every now and then. lol I made them & they smelled really yummy but weren't a temptation for me at all, so I was happy about that. I found a recipe for whole grain waffles that I was going to try but since I felt bad I decided not to, and not to mention, I didn't know what I could top them with since I don't do artificial sweeteners and I haven't added fruit in my diet yet.