Yesterday was weigh-in day, and I lost! Great, I made the 5lbs mark. Except, on the Thursday previous, I was at the 7lbs mark. D'oh! I thought I was pretty good over the weekend, but apparently, not THAT good. I keep reminding myself: "but you still lost, and that's good!" Right?

Five pounds is just enough to feel a little less jiggly, and to make me wonder, when I put on jeans, if maybe I had worn them once already. I haven't quite worked up the nerve to try on the "painted-on" jeans (that always makes me think of that Dolly Parton song) yet. Soon. Maybe Friday. If they fit, and I'm still able to sit down while wearing them, that would be a great Non-Scale Victory.

Oh hey, I developed a new recipe! I found a few recipes for something similar, but none had everything I wanted: low points, crunchy exterior, and a little spice. So I made my own version:

Cauliflower "Poppers"

Ingredients:
• 3 items egg whites
• 1 serving butter-flavor cooking spray
• 1 Tbsp shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1/3 cup panko breadcrumb
• seasoning to taste: chili powder or cayenne pepper, cumin, salt, pepper, tabasco.
• 1 head cauliflower

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 425°F Discard the outer leaves of the cauliflower and remove the florets from the base. Cut the florets into bite-sized pieces.
2. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the florets and turn off the heat. Let the cauliflower stand in the water 2 minutes. Drain.
3. Spray cauliflower with cooking spray
4. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper. Arrange the caulifower on the sheet in one layer.
5. Roast for 7 minutes, turning cauliflower over halfway through. Meanwhile combine panko or bread crumbs, cheese, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper to taste, in a small bowl.
6. Toss roasted cauliflower in egg whites (I added a little tabasco to the egg whites). If it doesn't look like enough egg to coat the cauliflower, add some water to it. I think you could also use buttermilk instead of egg whites.
7. Sprinkle the breadcrumb mixture over the roasted cauliflower and continue to roast for another 15-20 minutes until cauliflower and crumbs are lightly browned.

Approximate points value = 1 per 1 cup serving.

Posted by Korina at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Make Fauxpuccinos!

The other night, in a total dingbat moment, I accidentally hit the "brew now" button instead of the "brew later" button on my programmable coffee pot. I ended up with a whole pot of coffee that I couldn't drink.

Before setting up the coffee pot *again*, I poured the freshly-brewed stuff into a Nalgene and stuck it in the fridge. I figured I'd use it for something or other.

The next morning, I retrieved the chilly brew, dumped in a little skim milk, some artificial sweetener, vanilla, sugar-free almond syrup, and stuck it in my lunch box. I thought maybe I'd put it on the rocks for a little mid-morning boost.

When I got to work, I was putting my lunch in the fridge, when I spied a blender on the counter.. Hmm... (insert gears-turning sound here). After some rummaging around, I also found an empty ice tray in the freezer. I poured the cool joe in it and left it to freeze.

Late in the afternoon, I was feeling the 3pm blahs. Rather than stroll over to Bucky's to drop a fin on their frozen frappe, I retrieved the coffee cubes and tossed them in the blender. A few pulses later, I was sipping fauxpuccino!

It was just as tasty as that other stuff, but basically free, and no fat, no sugar. The only difficulties were finding a straw (thanks Brian!), and that it kept separating. Nothing a little stirring and shaking couldn't cure. Does that count as a work out?

Posted by Korina at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have to admit, Monday's weigh-in was a little underwhelming. I mean, I'm glad, because I did lose. That was a complete surprise, considering the pizza and beer fest of the Friday prior, and a couple additional brews on Sunday. I just didn't lose much -- a sad .4 lbs.

Contrary to WW's advice, I am a (nearly) daily-weigher. I keep all my little numbers on a scrap of paper, and weigh in every morning that I remember.

This morning, I decided to plug them all into a spreadsheet, because I am a stats-geek. Combined with all those other little fragments, that .4 doesn't seem so pitiful at all:

Posted by Korina at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just a quick note to report that last night's dinner was awesome. I ended up making stir fry, rather than lettuce wraps, with that pork tenderloin -- only because I didn't want to stop at the store to buy bibb lettuce.

It also had to be the easiest dinner ever. All I had to do was chop up the pork, onions, and broccoli. I already had some carrot shreds, leftover from making cole slaw last week.

Just stirred it around for a few minutes in a hot wok sprayed with cooking oil, tossed in a few tablespoons of Trader Joe's sweet n sour sauce, a few dashes of soy sauce, some sprinkles of crushed red pepper, and we were ready to eat!

To go with it, I made some boil-in-bag brown rice (8 minutes!). That was made into pseudo-fried rice, with the addition of some egg whites, soy sauce, garlic powder, and previously frozen peas and carrots.

All in the all, the fam gave it a big thumbs up. I calculated it to be about 8 points for a large serving. Put that one in the "keeper" pile.

Posted by Korina at 3:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

That's my motto. And if I'm really good, I get a hat trick out of one cooking session.

I'm not talking leftovers either. While leftovers are my bread and butter, so to speak, for lunch. I don't want to eat them for dinner too. I'm talking about 2 *original* meals from about 45 minutes of cooking.

To this end, the grill has been my friend. Now that we're in a house again instead of an apartment, I have been firing it up at every opportunity. While I really like the flavor of foods cooked over charcoal, you really cannot beat the fact that with propane, you just turn a knob and you're ready to roll. Armed with a pair of clamshell tongs and a probe thermometer, I am ready for some healthy grilling action!

Here are two example of what I grilled recently, both well within my dietary budget.

Example 1: Flank Steak

Oh how I miss the days when flank steak was a "cheap cut." As is, it really is a muscled, lean hunk of meat, and if not treated right, is tough as all get out.

Somewhere along the way, some gourmet muckity-muck got the word out that it's a great option for those watching their figure and their budget. Now flank steak will run you about seven bucks a pound -- at a discount warehouse type place! Sometimes you can still luck out and find it for a decent price behind the counter at Food City or Ranch Market, or on sale, if you keep your eye on the papers.

Meal One: Grilled flank steak with onions

I marinated the steak overnight in some watered down balsamic vinegar and garlic cloves.

The next day, while the grill was heating up, I took the steak out, patted it dry, let it come to room temperature, and seasoned it.

I also sliced up a vidalia onion and some Hawaiian onions, and brushed them with a glaze made of balsamic and brown sugar. I quartered some red potatoes and seasoned them with Old Bay. Those went into a pie plate that I had pierced a few times.

I put the pan on the grill and let it go for about 30 minutes. Then I put the steak on for 6 minutes on each side. After letting the meat rest, I sliced it againt the grain, and had tender juicy beef! The onions were sweet and delicious.

The potatoes actually ended up with a weird, funny taste. So I tossed those out and made a green salad instead.

Even after feeding two of us, that left nearly half a steak!

Meal Two: Beans

Before I went to bed, I put a half pound of dried pinto beans in water to soak. The next morning, I put them into a crockpot, along with the leftover cut up steak, some beef broth, onions, jalapenos, garlic, ancho chili powder, cayenne, cumin, salt, pepper, and a couple of bay leaves.

That night, we had beans and cornbread. Though brown rice probably would have been a more filling option, we splurged a little with the cornbread.

Come to think of it, I had the very last of those beans for lunch today. I also had them for lunch on Monday. That's like, four meals! Five, if you include the original steak dinner.

Example 2: Pork Tenderloin

Pork tenderloins are great for dieters too -- lean and flavorful. They, too, can be a bit spendy. But more often than not, at least one of the grocery stores will have them on sale. That's when I stock up. This time, I got a two pack from Costco.

Much to my surprise, when I opened one of the packages, there were actually TWO tenderloins inside. So I guess it's really a four pack!

Last night, while the grill heated up, I let the tenderloins come to room temperature. In the meantime, I brushed one with some bottled margarita I had in the fridge. Now usually, I'd use lime juice, but I didn't. I figured this was close enough.

Then I used my stand-by BBQ rub on it. It's an every changing combination of paprika, salt, pepper, brown sugar, cayenne, ancho, herbs, onion powder, garlic powder, powdered mustard.

I slathered the other with soy sauce, then rubbed in a paste of minced ginger, brown sugar, chinese five spice, and garlic powder.

When they were both prepped I chucked them on the grill. When they were almost done, maybe 15-20 minutes later (?), I put a few slices of pineapple on foil on the grill too. Once the pork reached 165 degrees I took it, and the pineapple off, and let the meat rest.

I sliced the BBQ one thin, put it on a light bun, and topped it with a little BBQ sauce. Along with the grilled pineapple (Yes, again. What can I say? It's really good now!), and some cabbage I had steaming on the stove, it was awesome! Not only that, there was enough meat for four sandwiches.

Tonight I'm using the Asian-spiced one for stir fry or maybe lettuce wraps. I'm not sure yet, but I know it'll be good! Heck, maybe there'll even be enough left for lunch tomorrow.

Posted by Korina at 1:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, that little plan I posted back in March lasted all of about 4 weeks. Most weeks, I could meet my goals every day. But when I tried to step them up, I just couldn't do it. And while I felt great about being hydrated and eating healthy, I wasn't losing any weight.

For weeks, I just gave up, and moped about my lack of progress. Then I went on vacation to Hawaii for a week. I thought I was being pretty good food-wise, but I came back even heavier. I was one pound shy of my heaviest recorded weight.

That served as a very LOUD wake up call. Obviously, trying to do it myself just wasn't cutting it.

I have never been on a diet, per se. The word itself makes me cringe. It brings up images of cabbage water or grapefruit or special pre-packaged who-knows-what foods.

But I decided I needed structure. I looked for a diet where I could eat the kind of food I like, and jived with my idea of healthy eating -- high fiber, low fat food, with calorie content in mind. After shopping around and lots of research, I settled on Weight Watchers.

I joined the online-only program, and chose the FLEX plan -- which uses the Points system to track your food intake and exercise expenditure. I have been on it for a little over three weeks now.

At first, I was a little overwhelmed with the counting and figuring out the points. My first day was a disaster. I had blown all my points by breakfast (darn you, bacon!!). The next day, I was within my points, but was utterly starving! I didn't realize how much I usually ate in a day.

By the end of the first week, I had gotten in the groove. Once my usual foods were entered into the system, counting and tallying came a lot easier. And by the end of the week, I had lost a pound and a half!

Since then, I've still been pretty good about staying under my limit. I get extra points that I can spread throughout the week too. I usually use those for the weekends, when I might go out to dinner or travel. I also earn points for doing exercise. Surprisingly, that has been a great motivator in the gym. I want to earn that Skinny Cow for dessert!

So far, I have lost 3.8lbs. It's slower than I would like, but within the healthy range of 1-2 lbs a week, and better than I was doing on my own. I'm sure if I didn't tap into my weeklies, it would go faster. Nonetheless, I am satisfied with this progress. I have seen a number on the scale (a GOOD one this time) I have not seen in a while, and that helps my patience.

In addition, I now have a little competition. Our dear editor Brian just started South Beach. Now I'm two weeks ahead of him, but he has already doubled my weight loss. Argghhh... men!!

We'll see how long that lasts.

Posted by Korina at 2:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)