Small Slice

The letter we received home from school on the first day should have read:

Welcome back to school, Lauck family!  In less than a week, all three kids will be sick, and you'll be cleaning up vomit and living on cup-o-noodles and saltines and flat ginger ale.  And bananas. 

You will be mean, but that isn't because your kids have a bunch of homework every night, already.  No, it is because you're a bad mother.  Don't even think about passing that off on us.

Love,

The school.

Ah yes, the chaos continues here at Casa Lauck.  I've got nothing worth eating, I've been sporadic on the working out, and my kids and I have a tenuous relationship that includes a lot of snarling.  Back to school is awesome, yeah?

I can't believe we've already had vomit.  That has to be some kind of record, does it not?

I'm off to the grocery store this evening, so it is menu time once again.  I honestly don't know why I bother sometimes, because it feels like it is courting disaster to be prepared.  This is some sort of warped lifelong resident of earthquake country logic.  If we don't prepare for a disaster, one won't happen.  But the second we put aside a new medical kit and enough food and water for the family, we'll get the big one.

In your face, bad logic!  I'm making a menu, and it ain't pretty, but whomp.  In the extended entry.

Continue reading "Eating Like A College Student" »

Posted by Jenny at 4:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

I had Chinese food made with flours and sugars this weekend, and I put milk in my coffee.  And then I ate pizza on Sunday. Oh, and I had some wine with my husband.  I'm holding steady at 166 pounds as of this morning, but I feel bloated and blurgh.

I found that by fudging a little bit, it opened the floodgates of fudge.  I hate that.  I hate that I have the type of personality where I have to be all or nothing when it comes to food and exercise. Now, I'm not even trying to say that eating a slice of pizza or drinking a glass of wine is bad.  Neither is milk in my coffee or Chinese food.  But the fact that I decided not to eat sugars and flours and dairy for one month, only to fall off the wagon for two straight days, is disappointing.

Truth:  I feel better when I don't eat a bunch of dairy and carbs. 
Also true:  I feel deprived when I don't eat ANY dairy or refined carbs.  Even when I'm satisfied by the meal I've just eaten.  I pine for cheese.  I long for breads.  I crave crackers and cream in my coffee.  Surprisingly, I don't miss sweets at all. 

I'm going to continue doggedly on my quest to keep dairy and refined carbs out of my meals for the rest of the month.  In my typical fashion, I've managed to get all excited about this new goal, and then promptly shelve it when faced with cooking dinner for kids who don't think sweet potatoes and steamed veggies sound good. 

Gah.  There has to be a happy medium.  It is times like these where I feel like following someone else's menu plan would be a good idea. Nevertheless, I'm a menu-planning, grocery-shopping fool.  I'll update this post with the week's menu in a couple of hours.

Posted by Jenny at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Big Slice is back in action after our little family vacation.  Woo-hoo!  Yosemite was a smashing success, and while I ate fairly small, my choices were limited by the food offered.  Meaning, I ate a lot of starches, and not a whole lot of veggies. We also didn't get to do as much hiking as I would have liked.  Not because the kids were tired, hoo-boy.  No.  It was because the kids were too busy climbing rocks.  Big ole rocks.

I'm tackling Mount Laundry, and then it is off to the grocery store to stock up on healthy foods for the week ahead.  Since all of our eating left much to be desired this weekend, I'm going to initiate Operation Veggie around here.

The best thing about summer is the abundance of fresh produce.  Living in California, we've always got access to good produce, but the fruits and veggies of summer are just better. 

I've also decided to forego dairy and all refined sugars and flours for the month of June.  I realize that means no ice cream, and believe me, I'm already whimpering about it.  But I've been feeling bloated and cranky, and I know that I haven't been making smart choices with my portions of dairy and starches in particular.  I also know that I can easily eat well without those items at this time of the year.  So!  Dairy and sugar and flour-free month ahoy!

Breakfasts - either plain oatmeal with a splash of almond milk and cinnamon, or a veggie and egg omelette with decaf coffee.

Lunches - soup and salad.

Dinners - here goes nothing...

Tuesday: Grilled chicken breast and zucchini, peppers and onions over steamed brown rice.

Wednesday: Baked sweet potatoes topped with vegetarian chili served with sliced cucumbers and baby carrots.

Thursday: Some sort of fish (have yet to grocery shop) with tabouli salad and watermelon

Friday: Okonomiyaki (made with soy flour and no cheese for me) and sliced apples

Saturday: Bell peppers, stuffed with orzo, ground turkey, tomatoes, onion and garlic and fruit

Sunday: Tacos - for me, minus the cheese and shells - I'll use cabbage leaves.  Refried beans and spanish rice, sliced avocados.

Posted by Jenny at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Okay.  For me to reach my goal of 5 pounds lost by December 12, I'm going to have to get creative.

Here's my personal food rules for the next two weeks:

Black coffee or unsweetened tea. 
Drink 64 ounces of water every day.
No eating unless I'm actually hungry.
Nothing but fruit until 5 pm.  This is an experiment, obviously - but I think it is do-able.
Dinners to consist of simple proteins, small portions of whole grains/sweet potatoes and grilled or steamed veggies. 
Limit dairy to next to nothing. 
No eating after 7:30 pm.

So!  With these stringent rules to follow:

Monday dinner:  Grilled chicken with grilled asparagus and steamed brown rice.

Tuesday dinner: Half a roasted sweet potato topped with spicy black beans, with a green salad.

Wednesday dinner: Tortilla soup and jicama salad with avocado, red bell pepper and roasted corn.

Thursday dinner: Sauteed tofu and whole-wheat spaghetti noodles tossed with olive oil and parmesean, served with steamed broccoli.

Friday dinner: Scrambled eggs with sauteed bell peppers, onions, mushrooms and chopped tomato.  I'll probably serve this with bacon for the rest of the family, and maybe some hash browns.  Did you know that you're supposed to use precooked potatoes for hash browns?  Like, boil up a few whole potatoes, and throw 'em in the fridge - when you shred and cook them, they will not be slimy and greasy like mine always were. 

Saturday dinner: Ground turkey and white bean chili in the crockpot.  I'll have to be VERY disciplined with my portion size of this. I'll eat a salad first and limit myself to one serving.

Sunday dinner: Grilled salmon, steamed brown rice and steamed green beans.

All I can say is I better lose some ding-dang weight.  Eating all healthy and stuff.  Sheesh.

I haven't gotten my exercise in yet, and it is nearly 2 pm.  I'm determined, though.  My trampoline is already groaning and cowering.  It needs to suck it up, because Mama needs to get airborne. 

Wahoo!

Posted by Jenny at 1:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As my 10-day fruit diet is coming to a close, I can honestly say that I'm really, really tired of eating fruit.  This must be what it feels like to be on Survivor.  It isn't that I've been hungry, or felt poorly at any point.  It is just...fruit.  Lots and lots of fruit.

The rest of the family is still eating a variety of foods, which will make this week's menu a lot more interesting than my upcoming two days of grapes.  Grapes, grapes, grapes.

Monday night - Pizza bread with steamed broccoli and watermelon.  The pizza bread is one large loaf of extra-sour sourdough bread, split down the middle and topped with homemade sauce.  SInce my kids still aren't much into spicy, I sauteed one small onion with one chopped bell pepper, sprinkled in some Italian seasoning and mixed in one can of tomato paste, with one can of water.  I spread this on the bread, and topped it with slices of mozzarella, and broiled. 

Tuesday night - Baked sweet potatoes, apple sauce and brussel sprouts tossed with bacon and garlic.

Wednesday night - Burritos (rice, whole pinto beans, chopped bell peppers, corn, fire-roasted salsa.  Served with shredded lettuce and guacamole.

Thursday night - Lemon glazed chicken breasts with parmesean-tossed green beans and steamed brown rice.

Friday night -  spinach salad with warm bacon dressing, mandarin oranges and red onion with cup of soup.

Saturday night - crockpot veggie stew with sliced fruit.  Assuming I'm willing to ingest fruit.

Sunday night-  grilled fish with cole slaw and sweet potato fries.

Okay!  That's the plan.

Posted by Jenny at 8:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

First of all, I wish you all could come to dinner, since my children are rarely as excited as you guys over my menu ;)

I get a lot of comments from people who can't seem to get a weekly menu going.  There are a couple of ways to approach this, all of which I have tried.  These ideas have all been borrowed from friends and experts, and since my brain is pretty much mush these days, I can't remember who told me what.  Speak up if I'm using one of your ideas, so I can give you appropriate credit!

1) Write your dinner down on a calendar, every day for a month (or six weeks) - at the end of the month, you will have a weekly plan already created.  You can just go back to the first week and repeat the sequence of dinners.  This is great if your family likes to have the same foods over and over, and you don't have a lot of time.

2) Have a general plan for your week, and then fill in the blanks.  For example: Monday, pasta.  Tuesday, chicken.  Wednesday, breakfast for dinner.  Thursday, crockpot.  Friday, ethnic night.  Saturday, pizza.  Sunday, casserole.  Use this same format every week, just changing out the dishes.  This works really well, because you can plan your shopping pretty easily.  It also works because you can plan around your schedule.  My Wednesdays and Fridays are hectic, so those days I try to keep dinner simple (or use the crockpot). 

3) Invest in a service like Leanne Ely's SavingDinner.com, and let someone else do the planning.  I enjoyed Leanne's recipes, but her menus didn't really meet my needs - I understand that she's added all sorts of new menus... worth a look-see.

4) Spend an hour and make a spreadsheet of all the foods you typically buy.  Put all the dairy together, all the frozen stuff, all the dry stuff, the produce, etc.  Okay, then you print it out, and put it in a sleeve protector and put it on your fridge.  As you are making up your menu, you use a highlighter pen on the sleeve, and mark off ingredients you will need.  Write in any special purchases, and off you go.  When you are done shopping, wipe the highlighter off with a damp cloth, and you can reuse your list again and again. 

5) Keep your budget in mind when planning - a large roast can be turned into sandwiches later in the week - barbecued chicken makes great chicken salad.  Steamed rice from one dinner can become fried rice the next day.  If you don't know what you're making from one night to the next, it can be hard to make your ingredients stretch, and get the most out of every purchase. 

By the way, I'm totally guilty of buying food and leaving it to rot, because it was an impulse purchase.  I would love to have all those dollars back, and it makes me angry every time I clean out my crisper and see wilted lettuce, soggy tomatoes, limp squash... if only I had planned better, there wouldn't be this waste.

Finally, it is only a good deal if you are going to actually eat it.  Those bargins on the end aisle of the store are often a great deal, price wise.  If you are anything like me, you will toss those cans of cranberry sauce and canned pumpkin into the cart on principle.  And then sometime in June, you will find those same cans in the pantry, because you never got around to using them.  Plan ahead, buy what you need, and you'll never be stuck holding a giant can of mushed pumpkin.

Posted by Jenny at 1:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

My arms would like to say one thing: OUCH. 

Shuddup arms.  Flabby, weak, girlie arms.  You will soon be strong.  Or you may fall off.  We will have to see.  Mwahahahahahaha

So, let's see.  I'm on my own with the monsters this week, so dinners will be super simple this week.  Part of the reason is no husband to impress with my culinary feats.  The other part is I'm so weak that I can barely lift a lemon from all the "working out" I'm doing.

So! 

Monday night: French toast with sliced apples
Tuesday night: Grilled cheese and tomato soup
Wednesday night: Steamed rice with stir fried veggies and tofu
Thursday night: Chili and corn bread with watermelon
Friday night: Savory puff pastry thingies, baked squash and salad.  I'll post the recipe.
Saturday night: Whole roasted chicken with roasted red potatoes and green beans
Sunday night: Leftovers

Posted by Jenny at 3:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

As I mentioned in my post on Sunday, I'm going to be cutting back on my daily bread until I start to see some downward movement on the scale.  I'll be sticking with low-carb (but still real food) meals for breakfast and lunch, and finishing my day with a regular dinner. 

I'm also going to attempt a second Bikram Yoga session tomorrow evening, to see if my body will get used to the heat, and if the nausea that brought me down last time can be abated by hydrating.  I'll report in on that action on Wednesday. 

So - without further ado - The Living La Vida Low-Carb edition of Menu Monday.

Breakfasts will consist of two eggs and one ounce of cheese, plus bell peppers, onions, mushrooms.  I might do a crustless quiche with spinach, bacon and feta cheese.  You get the picture.  Fancy, uptown eggies. 

Lunch will consist of a salad using only low-carb veggies, drizzled with olive oil and vinegar, and topped with either chopped egg, tuna, or some grilled chicken or turkey.  I might make a crudite plate with veggies and serve with a vinegarette for dipping, along with some sliced cheese.  I also like spicy green beans, or sauteed bell peppers, so we'll see what I come up with.  Lunch is mainly about veggies (about 2 cups, to be precise) with a small serving of protein (3-4 oz)

Dinners.  Now here's the fun part!  Let's start with Tuesday this week.

Tuesday night - mild whole bean and cheese enchiladas, topped with sour cream and guacamole and served with a green salad.
Wednesday night - crockpot mac and cheese, served with a cup of tomato soup and steamed broccoli
Thursday night - homemade calzone, stuffed with ricotta, mozzarella, and kids' choices of sauces and other ingredients.  Using the bread machine to get the dough ready.
Friday night - baked spinach with water chestnuts, garlic and parmesean cheese in heavy cream, and topped with panko bread crumbs dotted with butter and pork tenderloin, with fruit salad.
Saturday night - Chicken stew, with popovers and watermelon
Sunday night - Spaghetti with garlic bread and green salad.
Monday night - Waffles and sausages with sliced apples

Posted by Jenny at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

It seems like it all went by in a blink.  As of this Wednesday, school is back in session.  I would perform an interpretive dance to share exactly how complicated my feelings are about this, and you would love it, I'm sure, but I've got too much left undone, and two days left to make it all happen.

With the return of the school schedule, I'm going to have a bonafide reason to walk every day, as well as a more concrete schedule for the family's meals. As much as I love the lazy days of summer, I am craving more order.  Watch, in about one week, I'll be complaining about being owned by the school calendar, and how I wish I could just set my own schedule.

I'm fickle like that.

The school is exactly one flat, easy-to-walk mile from my front door.  The preschool that my three-year-old will be attending is also one easy-to-walk mile from my front door, and about half a mile from the elementary school.  I have no excuses, barring extreme weather or traumatic limb loss.  So here it is:

Walking for school drop offs five days a week @ 2.5 miles roundtrip.
Walking for school pick ups three days a week @ 2 miles roundtrip.
Optional walking home on the other two days - I'll have to see how tired my kids are, and if they can walk home and then do their sports on top of it. 

That's 18.5 miles a week.  Minimum.  I think I'll have to find a way to make it an even 20 miles a week. 

Before we get to this week's menu - I want you all to take a look at your daily routines and see where you can squeeze a little more exercise into your day.  I'm not talking about extraordinary methods here.  I want to hear your ideas!

SInce this is going to be a hectic week, I'm going to be keeping dinners simple and easy to prepare:

Continue reading "Menu Monday - the Back to School edition" »

Posted by Jenny at 9:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Aaaaargh!  I'm ready for battle on these last days of the Month of Motivation.  BlogHer is a mere 10 days away, and I've still got five pounds to lose to meet my goal of 10 pounds.  I don't know if it will happen, but I'm going to give it my all this week.

I'm still having trouble producing the grocery lists - new computers tick me off.  I'm going to fire up old Bessy, my not-so-trustworthy former computer and get all the files I need to get Big Slice's Grocery Lists back online.

Today was a weenie day for me, with not a lot of aerobic exercise.  But!  Never fear, because I've got Cardio Striptease queued up in the DVD player for tomorrow morning, and a swimming outing planned, as well as a two mile walk to the park before the mercury climbs into the 90s. 

Tomorrow, I think it's time to have another little contest... hmmm.  The wheels are turning already.  Check back in the morning for your challenge.

Posted by Jenny at 9:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

Alrighty.  Although I feel like I've been making healthy choices, and eating well, my family is starting to rebel a bit.  The goal this week is to find simple, pleasing meals that the whole family will eat.

Jenn, over at Trendy 'Tweens and I were discussing what makes a healthy meal.  When you are talking about "healthy food" in this country, the perception is that reduced calorie or low-fat, processed foods are fine, even better than the originals, because they say so, right on the package.  I'll get into that tomorrow. 

Jenn and I agreed on what to select for healthy eating - real foods.  But even more importantly is the way in which you eat them. 

If you sit down to a plate of food, and wolf it down, you body isn't going to have time to tell you that you are satisfied.  Dr. Clower points out that not only is our "full" signal delayed, but our appetites keep adapting to the larger amounts we eat.

"Why is this a problem?  Our body naturally expects a certain amount of food, which is  your appetite set point.  If you keep eating past this "enough already" point, you train your body to expect more food on the next meal.  In other words, you increase your appetite threshold.  Even worse, because your body is such an elegant adaptable machine, "raising the bar" can go on and on.  It's not clear that there's a ceiling."
Will Clower, The Fat Fallacy, page 132

Slowing down and sharing meals with my family is like swimming against the current lately.  It's a struggle to keep the kids at the table.  I have been preparing meals that cause the kids to gag and make "oh, barf" comments.  In short, I'm trying too hard to be fancy. 

No more.  At least, not this week.  Behold the menu for Simplicity Week:

Tuesday: Baguette slices topped with broiled cheese and tomato slices, tomato soup and mixed green salad, sliced fruit with whipped cream for dessert.
Wednesday:  Steamed rice with baked tilapia and peas, with sliced strawberries.
Thursday:  Southwestern Chicken Soup, with warm corn tortillas and watermelon.
Friday:  Open-faced egg salad sandwiches, pickles, olives, sliced fruits and carrots, celery and snap-peas with some sort of dip.
Saturday:  Breakfast for dinner - Waffles, Canadian bacon and cinnamon stewed apples. 
Sunday:  Turkey pot-pie with biscuits and steamed broccoli and cauliflower.

Posted by Jenny at 8:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (1)

Well, enough feeling sorry for myself, I say, and back to the cooking and eating healthy.  Along with the traditional theme park fare, where I ate a boatload of fries and assorted things on buns, I also enjoyed some really great, healthy meals.  I'm going to try to recreate some of the good stuff in this week's menu.  I'm also going to get back on a regular meal schedule for breakfast and lunch, and make an effort to savor every bite.  I'm also going to start sharing my children's ratings of these dishes, and I'll reveal what I serve them in lieu of eating the healthy meal I slaved over (damn picky little monsters who don't appreciate my culinary genius) so you can judge how your own family might respond. I can't believe how excited I am to get back to cooking after almost two weeks of eating out.  Behold:

Monday: Chicken noodle soup, Brown Derby Cobb Salad and hot french rolls.

Tuesday: Chicken wraps with avocado, tomato, lime, cilantro and jicama salad and sliced fruit.

Wednesday: Quiche Lorraine, fruit salad and baked beans

Thursday: Grilled salmon with yellow rice and steamed carrots and green beans.

Friday: Spaghetti noodles topped with parmesean, garlic and browned butter, served with steamed broccoli and bruchetta on baguettes.

Saturday: Sweet and sour sausages  - kielbasa, pineapple chunks, diced tomatoes, bell pepper, carrots, celery, onions, served over steamed brown rice with sliced apples.

Sunday: Falafel with yogurt/cucumber/garlic dip, lots of sliced veggies for dipping, watermelon.

Week Four Shopping List:

Posted by Jenny at 11:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

You know what is the best thing ever?  Starting a new workout plan that insists that on the first day, you rest.  That was my yesterday.  I walked around, shooting my mouth off about how "I'm on Day One of my new training program, yes, that's right, I'm going to run a half-marathon."

Day One = REST.  Totally awesome.

Today, however, was Day Two.  The task - run 1.5 miles. 

In all my bragging yesterday, my friend Kim (Yes, Dog-Crap Analogy Kim) caught wind of what I'm up to, and insisted that she, too, is going to run a half-marathon.  Well.  That girl is always one-upping me.  First the monkey bars, and NOW the half-marathon? 

Actually, we decided to meet and run laps around the park while our two youngest played.  We figured out that we needed to run around the park path 6 times to get our distance.  It would be an exercise and play-date!  Lookie at us multitaskers! 

We decided to drive to the park, because we figured we wouldn't want to walk home after.  This was a good call - but not because we were too tired.  See, no one asked the toddlers what they would enjoy doing on a lovely Tuesday morning.  My youngest was okay with it.  Sort-of.  Kim's son barricaded himself in the van, and refused to come out and play. 

With some slight of hand, and a well-timed grab, we got him out, and brought him to the picnic bench.  Then we did some pathetic, self-conscious stretches, and I took off for my first few laps.  After the first lap, my three-year-old joined in.  She trotted just ahead of me, setting a good pace, and yelled encouragement back to me. 

"Come on, Mommy!  You can do it!"

I puffed back to the picnic bench after three laps, and Kim did her first three looking like a champ.  The kids and I stood along the walk and cheered for her as she cruised into lap three.  My daughter joined Kim on one of her laps, too.  Who needs a personal trainer?  My three-year-old is totally up for the job.

I had a solid fourth lap, and then my shins started to ache.  Knowing that I had horseback riding lessons in an hour, and I would be needing my legs, I used that as a lame (I know, it was lame) excuse not to finish my last two laps.  While I did some more awkward and self-conscious stretching, Kim trotted around the park three more times.  She kicked my hiney, man.  Again. 

While Kim made her way around the path, I corralled the two little monsters into my van for a private viewing of SpongeBob on our portable DVD player.  You know, I used to scoff at the moms with the DVD players in the car.  That's why it has windows, I said.  Kids get too much TV already, they don't need no stinkin' movies in the car, too, said I.  Then we got one for our upcoming trip and I owe lots of moms a big apology and maybe a gift certificate to NetFlix.  Best. Invention. Ever.  EVER.

Oh!  And in further Kim News - she witnessed me making it all the way across the monkey bars at the school!  I did it!  I did it!  My arms didn't fall off!  Want to know the secret? 

Here it is:  If you hang 179 pounds of woman off of two stumpy, non-callused hands, you are not going to be able to do it.  You can't just hang.  You have to start off swinging. 

So, Kim and I will meet again for a rematch on Thursday.  We've got two toddlers, six laps, and bragging rights riding on the outcome.  Provided we can even walk on Thursday.  Heh.

I'm also down one pound to 178.  This is tedious - but I think I know what the problem is.

Ready for the bad news? 

I haven't been eating hardly anything.  I haven't been cooking hardly anything.  I knew when I decided to take on Fat Fallacy as my lifestyle guide, I would have a hard time with scheduling.  But this last week and a half has kicked my sore buttocks all over  the place.

I won't eat unless I'm able to sit down and appreciate the food I'm eating.  I won't eat in the car, nor in front of the computer.  Not in front of the TV either.  I need about 30 minutes, three times a day, just for eating.  And I'm not finding it.

With the last week of school festivities in full swing, I've been galloping from one place to the next, leaving the house before 8 am and often not returning until after 5 pm.  I'm attending field trips, driving from school to stable to store to school again with no pitstops at home.  I've skipped breakfast AND lunch for the last four days.  This has resulted in really low energy and no interest in cooking a real dinner.  Add in the fact that my husband is on a business trip, and I'm preparing for a week-long vacation with the three kids and a cross-country flight, and you've got a recipe for diet disaster.

Tonight, I ate a Happy Meal.  It was gross.

I'm thinking at bare minimum, I need to eat a protein rich breakfast.  I hate to shovel the food in, but this wishful thinking that my schedule is going to miraculously allow me time to eat, while contemplating the texture and aroma of each bite, is delusional.  Especially this week, when all the planets have aligned, keeping me from having any free time.

I'm not allowing my body to get the nutrients it needs, and it's affecting my potential weight loss.  I need to find the time to eat.  I need to slow down. 

I have this weird, illogical perfectionism streak.  It tells me that I shouldn't take up exercise if I can't do it right. It tells me that I know the "right way" to eat now, and by golly, I'm going to do it that way.  I'm not giving myself the space to be flexible.  I mean, I know I don't want to mindlessly eat in the car, or shovel handfuls of cereal straight from the pantry, but to forgo eating because I can't do it "right" is crazy.  But that's what I've been doing.  And it isn't working out.

Balance.  I'm seeking balance. 

Posted by Jenny at 9:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (19) | TrackBacks (0)

Forgive me, readers, for I have sinned.  I have not replaced the batteries in my digital camera since Saturday night, and you have missed out on some spectacular examples of Dinners That Are Totally Not On The Diet.  I have also stalled on getting going with my Strip Tease Aerobics DVD, but I promise to share my uh, moves.  I've been stalling about getting back on the scale, but I am doing it tomorrow morning after my weekend of diet debauchery. 

It would totally serve me right if the numbers have climbed.  I mean, let's take Sunday for example.  I had a chocolate donut for breakfast, hot chocolate at the ice skating rink as a reward for towing my three-year-old around for an hour and a half, and then topped it off with a giant slice of pizza for lunch.  I mean giant as in as large as my head.  And I have a huge head.  I didn't eat dinner, because I was so full from the giant pizza.

(Tonight?  I feasted on a barbecued hot dog and baked beans, corn on the cob, three-bean salad and potato chips.  I would hang my head in shame, but it was good and I didn't stuff myself, and besides, it's hard to type with your chin on your chest.  I'm just sayin'.)

This healthy eating is easy for me, as an individual, but my family...let's just say they are fighting it a bit.  Oh, okay.  A lot.  They want "fun food" and "easy food."   

I've been feeling quite victorious about eating smaller meals, and eliminating snacks. However, it has dawned on me that I am still mindlessly munching while I cook.  I sample everything, and all those little tastes and nibbles add up.  No wonder I'm not very hungry when I sit down to eat.  I'm using small plates, but I'm probably still eating double what I should be eating, volume-wise.

My mission for this week is to eliminate the sampling and taste-testing.  The food crosses my lips when I sit in front of my plate.  Not before, and not after.  This might give me a twitching eye from all the effort it will take me.  Hey, I wonder if that will burn calories?

So!  Monday is our menu day here at Big Slice of Life, Small Slice of Cheesecake.  I've decided to make this a "fun finger food" week to encourage the kids to linger and chat during the meal.  I belatedly remembered that this makes me like the Cher character in Mermaids.  That's actually pretty funny, don't you think? 

So!  Without futher ado, here's some fun food for week three:

Tuesday:  Grilled cheese sandwiches, salad, cream of broccoli soup and fruit  ( mini croissants, split and topped with cheddar cheese, broiled until bubbly, green salad and cream of broccoli soup with sliced apples.

Wednesday: Spanikopita, veggies and ranch dip, sliced fruit (phylo dough and butter wrapped around spinach, water chestnuts and feta cheese, accented with oregano and parsley and seasoned with paprika, sliced carrots and celery and jicama and whatever else with ranch dip and sliced melon.)

Thursday: veggie potstickers, shrimp cocktail, cucumber rounds with dill dip (Cabbage, carrot, celery, extra-firm tofu, soy sauce, in samosa dough steamed, with shrimp cocktail and sliced cucumber served with plain yogurt flavored with fresh dill.)

Friday: Shish-kebabs - chicken, veggies over rice with watermelon (Skewered and grilled chicken, veggies -  mushrooms, peppers, onion, whatever else and steamed brown rice, served with sliced watermelon.)

Saturday: Homemade cheese pizza, tossed salad, sliced fruit (homemade pizza dough, topped with fresh tomato, sliced summer squash and feta cheese, served with a tossed salad and sliced fruit.)

Sunday:  Falafel pitas, avocado and tomato salad, tomato soup (falafel balls, served in a whole wheat pita with lettuce and avocado and tomato salad, with a cup of tomato soup.)

Monday:  Turkey meatballs, garlic bread, roasted zucchini and peppers (Ground turkey, finely diced celery and carrot, parsley, oats, egg and soy sauce, pan roasted and served with garlic bread and roasted veggies.)

Tuesday: Nachos with refried beans and jicama salad (Tortilla chips, topped with shredded cheese, salsa, sour cream, avocados and refried beans and served with a jicama and lemon salad.)

As always, if you have any questions about this menu, or ideas you'd like to share, leave me a comment or email me at bigslicejenny@gmail.com.

Posted by Jenny at 10:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

If you were following along last week - you'll notice that I dropped two full meals off of the menu plan. Wait! Actually three! I've still got a whole chicken in my freezer, and frozen green beans, and a bunch of small red potatoes, and a whole bunch of stuff for lettuce wraps...

What I'm discovering is that the sheer amount of food I'm cooking is producing heaps of leftovers. Instead of eating, say, a giant plate of pasta and nothing else, I'm eating small portions of salad, fruit, bread, grains and entrees, and I'm totally satisfied. I'm eating more food than ever, but I'm not eating more of it. I'm feeling victorious, even though I've lost a grand total of 2 pounds. So I'm back at 179. This week, that number is goin' down. *Shaking my fist in the air*

This weekend, I spent an hour on the mini-trampoline, watching an episode of What Not To Wear while I jumped and did kicks and twists. I love jumping on that thing. It is exactly like being a little kid on a hotel bed. Boing, boing, boing... I spin around, and do arm circles, and then do fast little jumps, and then big, booming jumps that rattle the windows in their frames and cause the foundation to creak. I only wish it was bigger, so that I could do butt-bounces. Because THAT would rock.

I also made my first attempt at Steph's 50 Pushup challenge. I did 5 good ones, and then collapsed on #6, and whimpered for the rest of the afternoon. Behold the lame attempt. I think I'm going to have to *gasp* work up to it. Which means more than one attempt. Which means pushups. Probably daily. Craaaaaap. Thanks, Steph!

On Sunday, my husband and I took the three kids ice skating. We had a blast! Our rink allows the kids to push chairs around, and they don't play any music with suggestive lyrics during this special session for little kids. I kid you not, we were skating around to Hava Nagila and The Chicken Dance. We want to go again soon. For the music alone. I'll be posting more about this over at Three Kid Circus.

Alright, so let's talk menus: Week Two, represent!

Monday - Oven chicken and dumplings and apple sauce. Chicken, red potatoes, carrots, celery, onion and garlic, corn, peas and maybe red bell pepper, veggie stock to cover. Flour, milk, butter and cheese and parsley. Baking powder and salt and pepper.

Tuesday - Samosas & cucumber/yogurt salad, melon. Potatoes, carrots, peas, onion,garlic, parsley. Butter, and curry powder. Flour, olive oil and salt. Whole milk plain yogurt, cucumber, garlic, black pepper. Watermelon

Wednesday - Allspice mashed sweet potatoes, zucchini and eggplant bake with red pepper coulis. Sweet potatoes, allspice, butter, eggplant, zucchini, red bell peppers, water chestnuts, olive oil, panko crumbs, butter, eggs

Thursday - Pasta with parmesean and butter, chopped salad, bread. Pasta, parmesean, butter, jicama, tomatoes, celery, french bread,

Friday - Avocado with baby shrimp, butter lettuce salad, fruit slush drinks,  chips and salsa.  One avocado per person - fresh baby shrimp, cherry tomatoes, sweet onion, salt and pepper, watercress, butter lettuce - orange juice blended with a banana and ice.  chips and salsa.

Saturday - Quiche Lorraine green beans, fruit salad. One sweet onion, 1/2 pound bacon, swiss cheese, heavy cream, four eggs, pie crust, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper, frozen green beans, strawberries, bananas, apples, grapes.

Sunday - Pork tenderloin, baked potatoes, succotosh. One small pork tenderloin, one russet potato for each person, butter and sour cream, packaged frozen succotosh.

Dr. Clower suggests a glass of red wine with your dinner.  Now, I'm not a wine expert, so pick your favorite.  And he also suggests that you finish your meal with a bit of rich cheese, or a piece of dark chocolate and a cup of coffee or tea. 

I think we should get Dr. Clower to give us a chocolate eating lesson. 

Okay, so let's break this down a bit more.  Here's the shopping list. 

Posted by Jenny at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)