Sick of Ranch?  I’m getting there.  So I whipped up a little recipe this afternoon for my favorite, but high carb salad dressing:  Thousand Island.

1/2 cup Mayo

2 tbls Hienz one carb ketchup

3 teaspoons Splenda

2 teaspoons no sugar added pickle relish

dash of onion powder

Directions:

Throw it all together and put in the fridge for about an hour.

4 Servings of 2 TBLS each

Per Serving:

Calories:  202

Fat: 21 g

Carb: 1.2 g

So I’ve been cheating on my diet every weekend pretty much since Xmas.

I did really good at Christmas dinner until they brought out dessert.  It was a Yule Log and I told myself I would just sample one piece and that would be it.  And maybe just one sugar cookie…wait are those butter cookies?  Well since I had all that sugar I guess it won’t hurt me to sample some of those scalloped potatoes now.

Yeah.

On Monday I was right back on the bandwagon and managed to lose the weight I gained over that weekend. 

On New Years weekend my husband “re-proposed” and presented me with the engagement ring he never bought me ten years ago.  Oh boy!  Time to celebrate with pizza and chips and more of the delicious cookies my sister in law baked us for Xmas…

On Monday I was right back on that bandwagon and lost the weight I had gained over the weekend.

Do you see the pattern going on here?  Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

Every weekend I didn’t just fall off the wagon…I jumped face first into a pile of carbs.  And every week I went back into good girl mode until the weekend.  Essentially all I was doing was dieting during the week to lose the weight I gained every weekend.  Which would be fine I guess if I only wanted to maintain, but I’ve got a lotta lard still to get off this butt.  This was not the most effective method in which to do it.

Today marks the first weekend since Christmas that I am staying on my diet.  I finally realized that it makes no sense to pack on five pounds in two days and then lose that over the course of five days.  Do you know how much weight I could have lost since then if I just stayed on track?  Ick.

At any rate, I am back in control.  The good news is that as of the new year my co-worker and friend Michaelle have committed to walking every Monday, Wednesday and Friday on our lunch breaks and we’ve kept at it pretty well.  We also just purchased the new wii fit plus last weekend so there is that as well.

Things are looking up in the year 2010! 

Last night, my sister in law was in town.  That meant a dinner out with my in-laws.  While that particular event is always pleasant and fun, it doesn’t always make for good eating on my diet.

We went to a local place called Baja Cantina where they have a very good selection of food.  I told myself that maybe I might cheat since I have been so good for so long and my weight is still kind of stagnant….

Once I looked at the menu I realized I was craving a bunless burger and a side salad!   How insane is that???  I mean, in a good way of course!  :-) 

So this morning, I was doing the weekly shopping and I was getting my low carb marinara sauce when I saw the Dreamfields pasta.  I thought: “Hmmm, I think I will pick one of those up and have a “cheat night” tonight that won’t really be a cheat night if those things really work.  That sounds fun.”

So I put one of the spaghetti ones in my cart.

After I got home I started re-editing all of my episodes since they are now on Ifood.tv and need to be redone.  That is when I realized I don’t NEED to cheat!  I have so many recipes that I haven’t used in forever, that are fabulous and I have all the ingredients for!  I don’t even crave that pasta!!

So I just cooked up some “KFC” Chicken and now the Caulironi and Cheese is in the oven.    It’s going to make a yummers dinner.

I’m sure I will try the Dreamfields eventually but for now I’m perfectly satisfied with what I am eating. 

So I guess it is true.  If you eat the Low Carb Lifestyle long enough, you really DO lose your cravings!  I never really believed that part of it, but so far it has been true for me!!  Ha!

So a while back I was contacted by someone at ifood.tv about using some of my Lo Carb Cafe videos on their website.

I checked out their site and was pretty impressed so I wrote them back giving them permission to use the videos.  I got a confirmation thanking me and that was the last I had heard from them.  I figured they had either forgotten or found a better site so I just put it to the back of my mind.

Until tonight.  I just got an email letting me know my profile was up and running.  That was about a half an hour ago and my videos have already had almost 900 hits.  This is huge for me!  I’m so happy that I am able to share these low carb recipes with an even wider audience!  It thrills me that I am helping people while helping myself and can only hope that this is going to make it even easier to do so!!! 

Check it out: http://www.ifood.tv/wannnabeloser

Our very first low carb Thanksgiving has come to a close and I must say that it was quite successful. 

We woke in the morning and while my husband did some yard work, I got all the veggies cooked for our various dishes.

We decided to alter our menu because we had way too much food for four people so we ditched the broccoli soup and exchanged the ca-bobs for some sausage bites.

The in-laws showed up around one and I put out the relish tray along with the bowl of mixed nuts.  Rob had lit the BBQ and so the sausage bites were not far behind.   Football was on the plasma TV and so everyone not involved in cooking were happily watching.

I was given the 15 minute warning shortly after so I put the Green Bean Casserole, Stuffing and Mashed Cauliflower onto the table while Rob brought in the Cornish Game Hens.

Once the table was ready we gave the in laws the okay to fill their plates and head outside since we were dining out on the back porch.  Once outside we ate and my in laws were quick to give out the compliments on my cooking.  Even if they were lying through their teeth, I totally appreciated it. 

Once they were done with their plates I ran inside and made up some whipped cream and plated out some pumpkin pie.  They seemed to like it. 

After they finished the pie I gathered the dishes and started the clean up while they chatted outside with their coffee.  The dropping temps brought them inside and we put more football on the brand new plasma TV.

After watching some football we packed up the in laws with some leftovers and were left to clean up and relax.  The first low carb Thanksgiving at our house  a total success!!

And things are shaping up nicely for our first ever Low Carb Thanksgiving. 

I just finished the shopping for everything and although it has proven quite expensive, in the end it will be worth it.

We will have appetizers.  Rob will be making ca-bobs with bell peppers, mushrooms and onions.  And in a last minute decision at the grocery store, I have decided to do a relish tray with baby dill, and splenda sweetened gerkins, pepperchinis, martini olives, black olives and marinated artichoke hearts.    Also there will be mixed nuts of course.

Our starter will be  Cream of Broccoli Soup.

Instead of turkey, we decided to go the easy route and are having cornish game hens instead.

The sides will include Green Bean Casserole, Mashed Cauliflower and Stuffing.

The desert will be Pumpkin Pie.

I all looks really good and I will report on how it goes.  I’m super excited about this. 

So this year we have decided to have Thanksgiving at our house.  It is just going to be my husbands parents and us so it was either go out for dinner, burden the in laws with making a huge fuss for four people or having it at our house.

We decided since we were going to take it into our house, we would keep on our diet and make it a low carb thanksgiving.  So I have been researching the last few days what we will serve and here is a rough menu…

Turkey–Duh!

Green Bean Casserole

Cream of Broccoli Soup

Mashed Cauliflower and

Pumpkin pie.

A couple of these I already have episodes on but the rest I will film and upload sometime before thanksgiving.  I will have to try out several recipes before I figure out which ones will work best but I promise to make episodes of LCC on the ones that turn out the best.  I might even interview my in laws on what they liked the best… 

Stay tuned for updates!!!

So on Friday, you know the day before the 5K?  I forced myself to walk the loop at work on my lunch break.  It is about a mile and a half and has a couple of hills in it.  I had been putting it off, only walking the flat part by my office because I was afraid of what it would do to my back .  However, Rob made a very good point the night before about wanting to know if I wouldn’t be able to walk hills before I got to the actual race and got stranded at the two mile mark or something. 

I was able to walk the loop.  My back hurt but not as bad as I thought it was going to.  The muscles in my lower back were still very much locked up when I was done but the fact that I was able to power it out was encouraging to me.

So Friday night found me starting my period and down for the count with some really horrible cramps.  Great, now my back and my front hurt! 

The reason I mention the cramps is because it had me loading up on the Advil on Saturday morning which I believe was the key factor in my back not hurting at all for the race.  I know that may sound like a dumb statement.  Well, of course Kelly, why didn’t you think of just taking some before the race anyway?  But I don’t work that way.  I don’t like taking medicine at all.  I’m kind of paranoid about it.  I will only do it if absolutely necessary and I’m in pretty bad pain.  Like cramps.  I’ve had them bad my whole life and if I don’t load up on Advil, I will be throwing up from the pain in no time.  But for things like headaches and back pain that goes away once I stop walking…meh.  I’ll stick it out without any meds.  In my opinion if my body is giving me pain it is something I should feel.  It’s a warning sign and I need to feel it in case it gets worse and results in me needing to seek medical help.  Yeah, I’m weird that way.

So anyway, with the help of advil and walking every day this week I was able to do the 5K with relative ease.  I brought the dog with me and we had a nice little 3 mile walk in the forests of Pebble Beach.   This was the 4th time I was walking this particular race but knowing my back situation my goal this time was just to finish.  I really didn’t think I would even be able to match my time from last year let alone beat it.

It was a very pleasant surprise to me when I got to the finish line and found out that I had cut off four minutes on my time from last year.  :-)   I was quite proud of myself.

Today however, I am feeling it.  With no Advil left in my system I awoke to very sore muscles in my back and surprisingly in my hips and inner thighs.  I guess that makes sense since my pelvis had been tilted for so long and now that it is corrected I am using muscles that hadn’t been used in a while, but it just feels weird the way things are hurting.  I expected my shins and calves to hurt but my hips?  Odd.

The diet went out the window yesterday as there was a pancake breakfast after the race and I do like me some pancakes.  :-)  Followed it up with Pizza last night because I was totally exhausted and didn’t want to cook(totally an excuse by the way since I have tons of leftovers that I could have nuked and stayed on diet). 

Today I am back on thanks to my hubby that just made me steak and eggs for breakfast.  I’m off to get a mani/pedi as my reward for yesterday and then grocery shopping so I can cook for the week when I get home.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!!!

4-6 pieces bacon, chopped
2 pounds ground beef
Small onion, chopped, 2.5 ounces
Salt and pepper
1/4 teaspoon toasted onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 egg, beaten
8 ounces cheddar cheese
16 ounce package frozen green beans
16 ounce package frozen cauliflower
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon chives

In a large skillet, fry the bacon until crisp; drain well and set aside. In the same skillet, brown the hamburger and onion, seasoning with salt and pepper; drain the fat. In a 7 1/2 x 11 3/4″ baking dish, mix the hamburger, bacon, onion and garlic powders.   Stir in the beaten egg and half of the cheese. Spread over the bottom of a baking dish.

Meanwhile, in a medium pot, cook the green beans according to the package directions; drain well then return to the pot and stir in 1 tablespoon butter. Season to taste with salt. Spread the beans over the meat layer. In the same pot, cook the cauliflower 10-12 minutes until very tender; drain well. Put the cauliflower, 2 tablespoons butter and the sour cream in a food processor. Puree until smooth. Add the chives and pulse to blend. Adjust the seasoning, if necessary, then spread evenly over the green beans. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top. Bake at 350º for 35 minutes, until hot and bubbly.

Makes 8 very generous servings
Can be frozen

Per Serving: 433 Calories; 31g Fat; 30g Protein; 8g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 5g Net Carbs

First time making this.  I didn’t have bacon so I used the real bacon bits.  Also didn’t have the dimensions on the pan that they asked for so I used 9 x 13.    The dish is really tasty and filling but it doesn’t quite have enough “mash” to make it into a shepherds pie.  Still, very good. 

I divided mine into 6 pieces so the nutrients are as follows:

Per Serving: 577 Calories; 41g Fat; 40 g Protein; 10 g Carbohydrate; 4 gDietary Fiber; 7g Net Carbs  HUGE PORTION though.