Help is on the way ...
 

Eeeny, meenie, chile beanie, the spirits are about to speak!

Yo! It is, I, the ghost o' Questar the Culinary :queen: who roamed this land on :devil: Food Missions many centuries ago before being called to the Cloudy Climes o' the Heavenly Mountain of :angel: Food Not Cake, where I flash my Magik Sward on nights when the :devil: Foods roar their siren song against the innocent and slender folkettes o' the :queen: dom. Each year on the Eve o' St. Valentine's Day, I reappear to REMIND you :queen: s that :devil: in heart shaped boxes be abroad at this season and are best avoided. Summon me if you need backup when faced with the color RED, the shape o' HEARTS filled w/marshmallow lace or FLOWERS made out o' chocolate!!!!! Just closeth thy eyes and say, "Questar cometh!!!! Nay, nay, come out, Questar, come out 'n play; I don't need no friggin' chocolate TODAY!"

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

21-Day Challenge Report: Week 1, Day 6, calories: 1500, exercise 60 minutes, TB in gym w/trainer.

Going to bed! :)

Forgot, menu today was quirky as feeling ill. Ate mostly oatmeal, sprouted grain bread and EAS. No healthy vege or fruit, but no candy. No problem keeping calories low.

Friday the thirteenth
 

Amarantha, I was feeling ill yesterday too, and I admit I sought out the creamy comfort of chocolates, didn't overdo it too much though. Weird disjointed food day and not much exercise because of my pitiful state. :( Heres the sorry tale:

Coffee w/ ff 1/2 and 1/2
2 ww toast w/ egg, cream cheese, carrots, peppers

baked potato w/ sour cream and ketchup [at Wendy's]
fruit-yogurt parfait [at McDonald's---taking the fast food tour!]

2 ww w/veg. burger, mustard, ketchup, ff cheese
Slim-fast bar [130 calories]

snax:1 ww toast w/ cheddar
4 pcs. Whitman's chocolates [you know the little box?]

Calories: surprisingly only 1600
exercise: 1/2 hour bellydance video
water: 5 glasses

It be I, Questar the Culinary :queen: Ghost. Just dropping in from the :angel: Food Cake Not realm to point out that TODAY IS THE DAY!!!! Amarantha, the still-ailing :queen: hath summoned me to give warning again about those :; shaped boxes (yea, :queen: E, we do knoweth Whitman's little boxes, also Stover's little boxes, thou we usually shun them in favor o' pb cups :yikes: :fr: ).

Amarantha hath told me that she be still ill but working, yet wants the DFS contingent to know that she also be still on her challenge and be declaring a ST. VALENTINE'S DAY CANDY NOT CHALLENGE for herself ... no candy of any kind shall pass the honeyed lips o' the amazing Amarantha! This, she saith, doth not include turbinado sugar on her oatmeal, which be the only fun she hath left in life.

Havin' delivered the message and my warning, I, Questar the Culinary :queen: and veteran :devil: Food Slayer who hath departed to the cloudy climes o' only :angel: Food Not Cake, shall take my leave.

Be careful out there today, all denizens o' the Land o' Fit Folk. The universe hath morphed into a chocolate scented jungle wrapped in crinklly red 'n pink paper. P.S., the Easter candy's out as well, so remember to take thy Magik :devil: Food Slaying Swards along for trips to the store. :yikes: :fr: :rollpin:

Thanks to the Dear Departed Questar for her wise words--altho they fell on deaf ears in my case. I take comfort in the fact that at least I don't blindly just chunk it down my throat like I did in days of yore!

I was out in the big world all day and that can be dangerous for me and I had another "odd" food day, but I intend to be without blemish tomorrow. Time will tell....

Here's the Valentine's Day menu:

Coffee w/ ff 1/2 and 1/2
2 ww toast w/ cream cheese, hard-boiled egg

[At Thai rest.] lovely curry w/ tofu, vegetables, coconut milk, sweet potatoes
and rice

chocolate-raspberry heart
brownie w/ cream cheese icing
tiny cup of coffee

4 crackers w/ cheese

If we'd stayed home I would've been 'safe' and the cherubic demons would'nt have gotten me, but as I said, we were out in the big bad world and it was simply in the air today. The shops were crazy with people frantically buying all the V. Day stuff. The good news is my faithful body lets me know when it's had enough or too much. After the brownie I had the distinct feeling that it was just too much--and next time I'll get something smaller, and less rich. Live and learn, I hope! :) :) :) :) :) :) It does get easier!

Questar hath gone away again as it be St. V's night and sugar/fat in the shape of hearts, cupids and Elvis be now officially old news. Amarantha be still on her 21-dayer and her candy NOT challenge for today went well EXCEPT she did have a package of 460 calorie poptarts instead of the 230 cal pack of pb cups she wanted from the convenience store where she stopped to get gas and noticed that her blood sugar was dropping, so mayhap she be not ready to give up pb cups.

Yes, it does get easier, :queen: E, but not much! :)

Methinks all these hearts will turn back to regular smilies tomorrow.

I didn't write down my exact menu today, only the calories, but as I said, it involved poptarts ... still came out with a perfect 1500 ... weigh in tomorrow will tell the tale as to whether this is doing any good.

21-Day Challenge Report: Week 1, Day 7, calories: 1500, exercise 50 minutes between treadmill and recumbent bike in gym; total exercise minutes for week: 360.

Happy, happy, joy, joy, joy ...
 

On the occasion of my first successful week on my 21-dayer plus LOSING 1.5 pounds, I would like to reiterate:

Amarantha's February Food Quest

I, Amarantha, pledgeth this day, Sunday, Feb. 8, to set forth on a 21-day quest to banish the Binge Demon :devil:, a particularly evil member of the Demon Food gang :devil: that be seemingly forever loose in the royal neighborhood. To accomplish this banishing, I’m pledging to eat in a range of no more than 1500 calories six days a week and no more than 1500-2000 one day a week so’s my metabolism will stay strong!!! :strong: :rollpin:

Though this be not about eating, but in a way is, I further pledge to exercise 360 minutes each week of the three week challenge!

Day 8 and counting! I am making muffins for breakfast and will post a menu and the recipe tonight!!! Thanks be to the Slayers for their inspiration on this thread!

Hmmm. Decided to go ahead and post this recipe as it turned out really well. I'm freezing some for traveling later in the week:

Chess Pie Muffins
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup self rising flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
1 T turbinado sugar
1 T canola oil
2 tsp. baking powder
2 T buttermilk powder
2 tsp. Just White egg white powder
6 packets Splenda
1/2 scoop Designer Whey Vanilla Praline protein powder
1/4 cup fat free cottage cheese
3/4 cup water

Mix, spoon into 8 muffin cups sprayed with zero cal canola oil spray. Bake at 400 for approximately 12 minutes, turn off oven and let muffins sit in oven for a few minutes. 101.25 cal, count as 105 w/butter spray on top. :)

Editing: Working on healthy pear-gingerbread bars now, will post in my menu this evening, though they don't look promising.

amarantha-congrats on the 1.5 lbs. down!

i did fine yesterday op, and then today, ate too much at lunch (had a sundae for dessert, which was not on my meal plan and did not need!) ok, so---for dinner, back to pre-planned meal and no extras. also, haven't finished doing my exercising yet for today either, so will get to that now. well, wanted to keep myself honest here. take care, all.

Yo, Wsw!!!!
 

Found fresh cauliflower very cheap at the veg market today-- they were getting those little black spots so DH cooked up nearly all I bought tonight and he did another version of

ZERO POINT SOUP!~!!!!

Cauliflower Zero Point Soup

2 heads caulilfower ( these were aprx 2.5 lbs each)
4 cloves of garlic
1 big onion
4 carrots
4 stalks celery
salt and pepper to taste

saute the garlic and onion.
Cut up the cauliflower and add to garlic and onion. Cover w/ water.
Add carrot rounds.

Salt and pepper to taste.
Simmer till tender.
We cook till the cauliflower breaks down and looks almost like mashed potatotes.

YUM!


----

Empress, the chess muffins... wondering what the flavor is like... showing my ignorance here but not sure why the are called "chess"... ( They don't have a checkerboard pattern do they??)


Speaking of flavor... we are reconfiguring as quickly as we can... DH has developed a sensitivity to aspertame.. blinding headaches...
Which means, my favorite water will now be bought much less, and our favorite yogurt is a problem, .......

Anyone make their own yogurt??? I have a small Salton maker WITHOUT directions which holds six glass cups and a what appears to be a warming tray w/o a thermostat...also found this thermos type of container that you put warm ingredients and keep closed for 6-8 hrs... I am very interested in learning...Need some expert advise... all the books say its amazingly easy to do with the "makers" or tricky to do in an oven, slow cooker, skillet....

NEED ADVICE!

thanks !

Empress-- CONGRATS on 1.5 down!

Pear gingerbread might be yummy....

anyone interested in apple/oatmeal crisp?


Apple Oatmeal Crisp

2 large cooking apples cut into small slices
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/4 cup unflavored rice syrup
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoon baking powder
4 tablespoons Splenda
Cinammon
Nutmeg

Place apples in pie dish, sprinkling Splenda evenly. Add Cinammon and Nutmeg to taste.
In a bowl, mix pastry flour, oatmeal, rice syrup, baking powder, and milk.
Mix in Cinammon and nutmeg to taste.
Spread flour mix on top of apples.
Bake at 350 degrees for aprx 20 minutes or until apples are cooked and crust is brown.

Very good w/ yogurt! Especially vanilla yogurt!
Top that w/ Coolwhip and even better!