Posts by mrsdustbagc

The ZZTOP concert was fantastic, but we stayed up way too late. Then, just like I always do, I got up way too early. Was in a fog all day, no energy. That actually lasted through yesterday-just blah. Managed to make my Splenda cranberry sauce, and baked two pies yesterday-pumpkin and a pecan. Both with Splenda, egg substitute for the pecan pie.

My husband is the main cook on Thanksgiving, he does the turkey, stuffing and gravy. I make everything else: whipped potatoes (skim milk and Smart Balance), roasted asparagus, baked yams (With Splenda Brown Sugar Blend, and yes, some mini-marshmellows). Store bought rolls, olives-both black & green and a few snacks. Some things I WON'T give up on Thanksgiving are Smoked Oysters (in water), good baguette, and Brie! I plan on taking smaller portions and skipping lunch.  We eat fairly early on Thanksgiving-around 3 or 4 pm. Have to have some time to digest before getting into the pie! I have fat free Cool Whip for the pumpkin pie.

Only one of my kids can come to dinner, Jeremy. His twin, Alexia, has to work, but she'll be getting lots of left-overs so she won't miss out.

Wishing everyone here a very Happy Thanksgiving Day.

Hmmm, sure has been quiet around here lately...where're you at shizzigirl and sharpdust? I haven't been a very good girl for a bit, no workouts, but have been "working" around the house; not really trying, very hard, that is, at losing weight-but dropped weight anyway. Not sure how that happened. Happily, I'm holding pretty steady @ 195, or there abouts. Have been doing a lot of cooking, you know me, but pretty good stuff, lower calorie and low fat stuff. Writing a bunch of recipes-check them out, if you can, I've posted them here.

Today is my hubby's birthday, AND, we're going to see ZZTOP tonight! Nice birthday, eh? The weather has been abysmal, wet, cold, windy-no way am I spending any time at all outside if I can help it!

Made Hawaiian Meatballs and rice last night, dang! It was goood! So low cal/low fat! Even had a Strawberry-Banana Milkshake after, and hardly gained anything. Glad about that!

Have a wonderful week everyone! What ever happened to Ofelia? I see her posts on myspace, busy with the band, but never here anymore.

Skipped another workout, second in a row, to clean out my office closet. Took hours! and I generated a huge pile of old paperwork, etc., that has to go to the dump. Must have been a pretty good workout. Geno and I went to the local pub to have lunch-me? A delicious Swiss Cheese, Bacon Burger with steak fries! No booze, but a ton of food, and I ate it all! Then, we had steaks, prawns for me with a small piece of steak, baked potatoes with non-fat sour creams, bacon bits, sauteed Chantrelle mushrooms and steamed Brussels Sprouts. Lot of food, right? Weighed in @ 196.2, down quite a bit from the day before. Go figure.

Do plan on a workout out today, and have some more projects to do around the house. Going to have left-over Curried Chicken and Rice with Mango Chutney and coconut. Pretty good stuff. Did screw up yesterday and drank alcohol. Stupid, not going to do that today.

Can't believe what a huge mess I've made of my dining room and livingroom cleaning out that closet! I have a large bin full on nothing but photographs, too many to even think about putting in albums-that'd take a month or more to do!

Happy Friday the 13th, everyone, it's always been a very lucky day for me!

Hmmm, weight up a tiny bit. Workout planned. Have been cooking like crazy, and happily, gave half the loaf of Pumpkin Ale Bread away. Tonight I have a hankering for curry, so I'm making a one-dish meal: Curried Chicken and Rice. It has peas, cauliflower and tomatoes in it, serving it with Mango Chutney and Flaked Coconut. It's pretty yummy. I love the simplicity of one-dish meals, a no-brainer.

My husband painted the kitchen alcove/nook the same color as the office, "Caramel Sundae", and it  looks fantastic, very warm and inviting. Now I need to recover the chairs at the table in the nook, so I'll go looking at fabrics. The paint makes the kitchen "POP" (Home & Garden-channel lingo, aka HGTV).

I don't know if any one else does this, but I find myself watching the Foodnetwork channel a lot. Maybe have a bit of a preoccupation with food? At least I try to make my dishes lighter than what they do on TV!

Happy Hump Day, everyone! Battle!

Workout cancelled, allergies acting up pretty bad, had to take a couple Benedryls. Droppy, dozy, laid-back on meds. No energy. It's been a while since I took anything for allergies, haven't been bothered much in a few, several years. All this painting/moving stuff really kicked up the dust, one of my triggers. 

I'll have to eat light all day, watch the calories and grams of fat. Going into the kitchen to make a loaf of Pumpkin Ale Bread to go with dinner. Still, all in all, menu for today totals 1269 calories and 29 grams of fat. Nice and low. Room for some more of that Gingerbread!

Hey, shizzigirl, I made two apple pies yesterday, both with Splenda and Smart Balance. They are now residing in the freezer! Used refrigerated pie crust, just easier.  Dang! Gained over a pound from all the potstickers, chili-cheese dip and tortilla chips my husband put out for the guys watching the game. Should've stayed away from the Man Room!

Here it is:

Lightened Gingerbread

2 1/4 cups flour, all-purpose

1/3 cup Splenda

1 cup Molasses, Dark

3/4 cup hot water

1/2 cup shortening

1/4 cup egg substitute

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. cinnamon

3/4 tsp. salt

Heat over to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a square pan, 9x9x2-inches. Measure all the ingredients into a large mixer bowl. Blend 30 seconds on low speed, scraping bowl constantly.  Beat 3 minutes on medium speed, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan.

Bake 50 minutes or until wooden toothpick comes out clean.  Serve warm, sprinkled with powdered sugar.

I cut it into 12 small pieces; comes out to 272 calories and 9 grams of fat! And it is delicious! Enjoy.

Workout planned, have to now, and eating light all day!

Have a good week.

Weighed in @ 197.2, down a tad. Did 20 minutes cardio, 409 calories. Stretched and exercised. So funky I can't stand myself! Shower, long thorough shower!

Making Chicken Parmesan with Mozzarella tonight and linguine, garlic bread. Wrote a couple of recipes last night, one for a lightened Gingerbread. Might have to  make that today! But, I still have Apple Pies to make-procrastinating, I know, I know.

Off to the shower!

Fell hard  off the wagon, but I'm climbing back on! Stupid me. Got into the candy, skipped dinner and woke up with a small hang-over. Remember why I quit. Gained, naturally, from stupidity.

The office is painted, a warm "Caramel Sundae", which I didn't think I'd like at first, but once the whole room was painted, it is very, very nice! Window trim will be a bright white and it'll Pop! Going to do some major sorting, donating and tossing of all the things that came out  of this room. Want a pristine, minamalist look. Moving the bookshelves and re-configuring the furniture.  Kind of exciting to have a whole new look to the room I spend so much time in!

Skipped a workout yesterday to help empty the office, but going to do one this morning! Gotta get back on track and avoid that evil ALCOHOL!

WOW! Just got done with my cardio on that nasty machine, and I burned 580 calories! The most I've burned in 30 minutes before! Of course, I have to take a break before I continue so I can get some feeling back in my butt, but (no pun intended) it was worth it! That ought to drop some pounds! On to a stretch, exercises and light weights today. Very light breakfast only 296 calories and 6 grams of fat. Making chicken breasts and asparagus in white wine tonight. Low-cal and low-fat! Nice! It's from "Cooking Light" and only 289 calories and 8 grams of fat for a 6 ounce serving! Sweeeet! And they made it with butter, which I'll substitute with Smart Balance, and make even lighter!

Husband is on a mission to paint our bedroom, soft lavender, white trim on the windows; and the office-though, he picked out "Caramel Sundae", which I thought I'd like, it seems a bit orange to me.  Or the color of strained baby food. Hmm. Not too sure about that. I'd envisioned a warm tan color. Maybe my suggestion of the word caramel wasn't a good idea....

Keep trying, shizzigirl sugar, it'll come back to you. Wedding, huh? That could be a very good motivating event...if you  know if you know what I mean.

Weighed in @ 196.4, down a tiny bit, but steadily going down.  Still off the "sauce" and it feels really, really good. Was tempted for about 2 minutes last night, then thought about the last slip up and how icky it felt. Didn't do it. Still at the workouts, number 8 today! Yay! Been cooking every night, making a recipe in a  new, light way, and watching the portions-my downfall-and still, slowly losing weight. I'm kind of on a "high" lately, proud of my not drinking, proud of the daily workouts and because my husband got an extension on his unemployment, feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Times may be really tight, but I am very happy. And it's not the Prozac, either! Not a large enough dose for that!

Just watching a very beautiful sunrise, it really is gorgeous, and looking forward to the rest of the day.

Keep up the good work, everyone-and enjoy life!

Got up this morning and weighed in @ 196.8, steadily going down! Yes! Padded my calorie intake yesterday to a little over 1709 cals and 29 grams of fat. Had a couple Rice Krispie Treats bars after dinner. And still lost! This is the way it's suppose to be! Bringing out my old mantra: Eat Less Exercise More, and Don't Drink. That's ELEMDD! I used to kind of chant it to myself while doing cardio. Kind of like self-brainwashing or something.

Very pleased my husband got an extension on his unemployment, we were able to put some back into savings so another mortgage payment can be made! Yes!

Another workout planned, number seven! shizzigirl, how many have you done in a row? I realize I'm unemployed and have a ton of time on my hands, granted that, but you seem pretty motivated. And you're a lucky girl to have a job! But, despite my obvious advantage, how many have you done? Oh! I applied for a job yesterday @ the local Honda dealership to be a shuttle driver. Pays 30 minutes of over-time every day! Not bad hours for me: 7:30 am to 5 PM. Don't know what days of the week yet. We'll see if I get a call. Hope so! Thank Goodness I've got a perfect driving record!

Have a good week everyone, keep motivated and keep up the good fight!

So far, I've done a workout for the last five days in a row. Today will be number six, and I'm not stopping. Planning on a workout every day. Weighed in @ 197.2 today, down slightly. Had another day of sobriety and it feels great. Wake up all energized, I'm more alert and the hot flashes are gone! Yep! Gone!

Sorry, shizzigirl, but I can't do more than 30 minutes of cardio because it kills my behind! And the weather here is not conducive to walking outside-rain, wind, cold...But I do the 30 minutes EVERY DAY. Even though I know it's going to hurt, I climb back on that damned machine!

It's back to baking again, with Splenda, but these pies are going in the freezer. Tomorrow I'll start on the mini-pumpkin & raisin nut loaves, which will be frozen, as well. I have a bunch of Golden Delicious apples that I suppose would lend themselves well to Applesauce, but how to preserve? In the freezer? I'd have to find/buy some kind of containers for freezing. Any ideas?

I'm very proud of myself, whole day yesterday, and didn't drink ANY alcohol! Woke up refreshed and feeling great. Plan to make that a permanent decision. I'd rather drinking be the exception, rather than the norm.  May sound pretty pathetic to many of you, but it crept up on me, insidiously, and I really didn't like me that way. Feels good to be able to change that.

Weighed in @ 197.4, which makes me even prouder-despite the Costco indulgence, I managed to drop a bit of weight.  Last night, I was tempted to nibble, but with my resolve intact-and not influenced by a "buzz"-I stuck to my guns, and didn't. Picked up the bag of Fun-Size Snickers, turned it over, took a look at the calories and grams of fat, and put it back down.  (I'm grinning, here) I had already logged my calories and grams of fat for the day, a little higher than I'd planned (Thanks, Costco), and knew I couldn't afford to add even a little more of either. 

Have a workout planned, menu intact and I'll follow it. Going out to Trader Joe's later on to get my Cabot's 75% Reduced Fat Cheddar Cheese and some more of that Black Sourdough Rye Bread-it's good!

Okay, shizzigirl, I got MY game on. How about you?

Good luck finding "healthy options" to Halloween Candy, shizzigirl. I don't think there are any, except for sugar-free candy, and where's the fun in that?

And, Yes, We ARE back. Just finished my workout/exercises, about to head to the shower. Took a few minutes to convert a favorite recipe on My Recipes, Curried Chicken and Rice. It's a one-dish meal and it's really good! I usually serve it with Major Grey's Mango Chutney (not low-calorie) and shredded coconut (not low-fat).  But the combo is absolutely fantastic, and I love curried dishes! So, if I plan out my menu with that in mind for dinner, I can probably stay within bounds calorie/grams of fat-wise. I'm sure I could tweak it to lower the grams of fat, but I think I already did a pretty fair job of that. And I could avoid the chutney and coconut, but it just raises the dish to a whole higher level in flavor and it's worth it.

That works well for me, too. Recipe Analyzer just isn't that accurate.