August time for a new thread
 

Yesterdays lunch consisted Of grilled wild caught salmon,
collard greens and squash and purple cabbage
For dinner we went to a cook out last night.
(grateful that we did not have to cook)
they served kabobs:
small amount of beef tips, sweet onions, and red peppers and mushrooms.
hubby brought not good tabouli from some place other than sandras and it was not good. plus it had wheat so did not even try it, it looked mushy..... Before we went over there I had eaten my left over chili and that was satisfying. Every one else was a bit still hungry after the kabobs were gone.
WE watched a movie Noah...fair movie. and I snacked on some kale chips. Interesting, never had them before. WE also snacked on pistacios.
this morning I am moving slowly, finished 2 cups of coffee and working on my strawberry smoothie. (spinach, kale, fresh strawberries and frozen blue berries and mangos. yum)
Have a great day!
I am off to go work today, thankful for my job and my wonderful husband, so glad he is home!

149 this morning.:)
bizi

Happy August, Bizi.

The kale chips sound nice... is it like, oven dried leaves/pieces of leaves, or stem, or... ?

waves off to have my precious forbidden coffee and I will put honey in it too.

these are the real kale dried and flavored and yes the stems were there too.
I kind of liked having something healthy to snack on and told myself that I liked them.
lol
bizi

149 this morning!!!!
Still AF since July 1st.
Maybe I can remain alcohol free until our mini vacation in 2 weeks. a couple nights at Pensecola beach in Florida. There will be much eating and drinking bush whackers that is for sure. But I can continue dieting and trying to eat as healthy as possible until then.

I was tired of my old blender not working well so I bought a nutri-bullet. will try it out in the morning. It is simple to use and I am hoping that I like it!
bizi
great dinner tonight
pecan garlic sauteed cod
roasted egg plant, beets and half a peach
cucumber and tomato and feta and dill, sour cream salad
Jeff did not like the pecans, tasted old to him...they were old!
I went to the fresh market and picked up some salmon, bought a ginger sauce,
and sashimi grade tuna...will sear it! never have I done that before wonder if I should use some spices or just plain?
bizi

Thanks Bizi

I understood it was real kale, lol... but how did they make them? Oven or pan, or... ? And was each chip like a dried leaf or... ?

waves wondering about the anatomy and development of a kale chip. ;):D

Good luck with the bullet that is the one I read people were using to grind sugar in, lol. Potent, I guess.

Excellent about staying off the alky till now, keep it up.

The tuna... IMHO it really doesn't "need" spices, but depends also on your preference and mood.

We have had it two ways. Once rolled in sesame seeds and pan toasted... very good... crunchy. Another couple times we just had it seared, and it was really good too. I find it's very flavorful with just a bit of salt to taste, pepper if you like also. I didn't even put olive oil on it which I often do, but really liked it plain. :)

If you decide you want something on it... I think the ginger sauce would work well with the tuna -- that's something I would try (if only people in my house would eat ginger sauce, lol).

Tell me what you do with it, and how it works out.

waves

Waves,

I made Kale chips in the oven before. This is probably what I did:

http://www.marthastewart.com/869625/kale-chips

Bizi,

Tuna has a lot of flavor so you do not need to do much to it except watch the cooking times.


M

I think I'd like those. I love fried sage, perhaps a similar texture.

waves

these were very curley and baked I believe so lots of texture for sure. yes you can make them yourself but that is far too much labor intensive for this easy breezy cook. they are expensive though so maybe something to think about.My mom made them once I should ask her what she thought of them.
bizi

Bizi,

Did you see the recipe Mari posted... does that sound right for what you had?

That's really pretty straight forward -- lay the leaves on a cookie sheet, and toast them, just like you do your eggplant. (It sounds like what you had as you say they are curled... toasting would do that.)

It might even be posssible to do it in a toaster oven.

waves
One could season as they prefer I imagine.

Waves,

I remember feeling like they were pricy when I have bought them because they are packaged such that there are no crumbs when you get them (lots of air).
The last ones I bought had garlic a little like this.
They can call them raw because they are cooked in a low oven.

http://www.amazon.com/Brads-Raw-Leaf.../dp/B00EDORVLK

http://www.amazon.com/Tarragon-Dijon...X51BB639KCK41T

Amazon's prices are a little higher than local stores.

M

You are right waves mari s recipe sounds easy.
I have never bought fresh greens and had to wash them and dry them, that sounds like alot of work.
I always buy the prewashed boxes/bags of greens.
Jeff and I went to watch a movie this afternoon: guardians of the galaxy. It was more of a guy flick but I enjoyed it.
then we went to brewskis down the street from us and had a few drinks and played pool so that was fun. I am not upset about this it was fun!
Came home and had a good dinner of salmon ( I used a ginger teriyaki sauce) and fresh steamed asparagus. Hubby ate some left over cucumber and feta cheese salad from yesterday.
yummy
Have a great week!

bizi

Bizi, :hug::hug::hug:

I am so relieved that he is home and that you can do fun things with him.

Mari

Breakfast:
2 cups of coffee with half and half
kale, brocolli, carrots and blueberries and milk. in nutribullet.
wow! Had to add stevia...the brocolli was so over powering...I could not taste anything else. With the stevia it was drinkable.
I think I prefer cooked over raw.
lunch:
grilled shrimp spinach salad. With berries, strawberries, blueberries and cranberries. with a little cheese. It had a balsalmic vinegrette with some honey which was very good.
dinner:
seared tuna steaks with ginger teriyaki sauce
roasted egg plant
the remaining cucumber and tomato, feta salad.
chewing gum after dinner satisfies my sweet tooth although I don't like the artificial sweetener in it.
bizi

my back is bothering me today.

I hope your back feels better soon Bizi. Did you strain it somehow, or is it just general acheynesss?

I am terrible at anatomy. what hurts is the area to the left of my spine, lower back area. we have dimples in this area and I can feel a joint of sorts, maybe it is called the sacroiliac joint? it is part of the pelvic girdle but in the back. I just looked at my anatomy book and I think that is what it is called.
bizi
thanks for asking.

Hi, I didn't know that's what it was called... but I know where the dimples are!

Have you done any heavy lifting or bending lately? Do you think it is a strain?

waves

I think I was cracking my back as I normally do and must have pulled it. woke up this morning with it hurting. it feels better already so maybe just a strain. It hurts to bend down but not as badly as today when I was crawling around on the floors bending down etc for work.
bizi

glad you're still eating right

Ah, yes that could do it. I am glad it seems to be improving. :hug:

smoothie for breakfast:
kale, banana, blueberries, 1/4 cup of almonds, milk.
something tasted off maybe the overly ripe banana????
that is the first time I have used raw almonds before, did a good job of chopping them up. only a couple of pieces that would not fit thru my straw.
150 this morning....maybe I need to cut back my food intake???
I bet my smoothie this morning had 350 calories due to the almonds.
I never used to eat breakfast so this is new to me. plus I use half and half in my 2 cups of coffee so that is another hundred calories.
bizi

hope your back is feeling better
love
bobby

Bizi,

It's normal to have fluctuations... I think up to three lbs but maybe even a little more. Definitely 1-2 lbs up or down on a single day doesn't mean much. If you eat more or less salt on a given day, your overall cell hydration level changes and that shows on the scale too. It can also vary a little with the specific amount of bulk in intestines.

The way I do quantity is, if I can eat less and still feel satisfied, then I am eating too much. This works only if your appetite is "lined up" with your food needs... meds can change that so be wary.

What about getting whole milk to use instead of half and half? You could allow yourself one cup per day with half and half and have the others with milk. Breakfast... I guess it depends... why did you decide to add it? If you don't think you need it, yes, revert to just coffee. You can always have your healthy smoothies for lunch day on day off.

I love the almonds in the smoothie, should add richness, yummmm. You've been making me want to make smoothies, lol.

waves

I guess I wanted to be more healthy, get more servings of fruits and veggies.

Lunch:
chicken with egg plant and onions,
kale and collard greens
very good.
Dinner:
hand full of almonds as a snack before dinner.
chicken with mango sweet/hot pepper sauce and chopped up a mango(my favorite fruit ever)
Left over brocolli coleslaw with kale and cranberries and almonds.
small amount of tabouli and1/2 an avocado
very good dinner...
bizi
ps. waves, I gave up french vanilla creamer because of all of the artificial ingredients....replaced it with stevia and half and half.(which doesn't have much carbs)
I am trying to follow(trying is the key work)
a low carb diet.
bizi

You were pondering whether you should reduce your intake. You pointed out that you added breakfast which you did not have before, and you also pointed the calories in the half and half.

Hence, my observations specifically on those things.

Was trying to respond to your concerns is all.

oh golly I am sorry if I sounded critical???
I did not mean to be. I appreciate you and your posts. Thank you for responding to me.
bizi

I guess you were trying to explain, and no you didn't sound critical exactly. I was trying to explain because it sounded like you didn't know where I was coming from, like why the heck I was on about the cream and things.

Anyway sorry I was not helpful. And btw I had forgotten that your half-and-half was a compromise from the french vanilla. I guess milk would be a compromised compromise, lol. (Half and half for me is a treat! LOL! Heck, even whole milk is a treat!)

On a slightly different note............

Since you like flavorings, have you ever tried cinnamon in coffee (sprinkled on top and stirred a little)? (I have tried a few different spices... I like tinkering with my coffee. :D)

nope but I like cinnamon so I bet I would like it.
I do like rooibos tea which is very cinnamony in flavor.:)
bizi

And the vanilla btw you can probably buy vanilla extract in drops -- go to the cake section. One drop in your coffee sshould do the trick... might give you back your french vanilla (sort of) minus the calories.

I didn't know rooiboos was cinnamonny. Now I will try it. We have some I think.

Is this the same as vanilla extract?
I have never seen it in droppers.
sounds like a great suggestion!
bizi

my tea has cinnamon in it so I don't have straight rooibos tea so not sure what really tastes like.
bizi
let me know what you think:)

Vanilla extract, yes. I thought it came with a dropper but maybe I just used to pour very carefully lol. I used to keep almond.

I edited the post. Originally it said "vanillin" which is not the same -- it is the fake stuff (probably what is in your creamer, lol). That is because I thought the real stuff might be hard to get, but then I remembered it was almond extract I had a hard time finding. And that is another good one to try in coffee.

Btw... one drop (of either) to a cup might even be overkill... might be better to add 2-3 drops to the pot (say for 6 cups).

smoothie
 

Bizi,

I do not eat breakfast.
(Partly because of my sleep rhythms) but also it is just not my thing and lots of people do very well without breakfast.

If you are adding a meal to your day that you normally do not eat, that adds to your daily calories.


I do like the description of your smoothie. Try sliced almonds. They get cut up easily.

M

well I have to say that this mornings smoothie is interesting.
kale, a whole orange, handful of almonds, blueberries.
The bullet did just fine with every thing but the taste is very bitter due to the orange peel. not sure that I like it but will drink it anyway. I should have put stevia in it but did not.
have a great day!
bizi

you should host a tv show on how to eat healthy. I could be on it as the opposite lol

I decided I am not a fan of orange peel!
lol
bizi
had a big lunch. baked kebe: spinach with quinoa and potatoes and pecans.
then I had a good size bowl of vegetable beef soup. which had rice in it.
so that was 2 starches not on my diet.
oh well. not going to kill me.
getting ready to have a cup of coffee, I need a pick me up!
bizi

Bizi,

That was a good lunch. I hope you enjoyed your coffee.:grouphug:

M

jeff and I went out to brewskis for a few beers and some pool.
I made the mistake of having shots of this cinnamon whiskey in my pints of cider.
I had 3 ciders this way.
I ended up getting sick. too much to drink.
sigh
I kept getting sick.
thought I was done getting sick so ate some pizza, got sick after that.
sigh
yuck
took a shower and got sick after that.
I think I am done drinking for a while.
bizi

Yeah. Wow that is a lot of being sick. :(:hug::hug::hug:

I think I got sick bad a few times too many over the years and actually developed an aversion for most hard drinks as a result. (The times I used to drink bigtime, I most often had hard alcohol.) The last time I tried to have a martini, maybe last year or year before, I ended up pouring it down the sink. The smell alone grossed me out. The body has surprising defenses, I guess.

I am sorry though. I know how dreadful being sick like that is. I hope you wake up feeling much better.

Hey did you have fun playing pool at least?

waves

yes we played pool and I was awful, enjoyed it though.
thanks for your support.
bizi