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YESTERDAY I was down 3 more # - a total of 33 pounds since I started on October 11, 2015!!!
Every time I am about to step on the scales, I get really nervous. It's like I am just waiting to get bad news - has my weight loss reversed? Drum roll please - my scales are digital so I stand for a few seconds and then step off before looking down at the numbers. WOOT WOOT!!! I wasn't expecting 3 pounds since New Years Eve!
OK - moving on . . .
So today, UPS girl brought me something
What could it be???
Oooooo!
YES!!!!
That's what I'M talkin' about!
Red and black - to match my decor
Baby's first bath! Add one cup of water and a drop of dish soap and press the "clean" button -
Except - nothing happened. I pressed the CLEAN button and - OH NO!!!! Did I get a dud?
Naw - just a minor setback - wish the instructions had mentioned the "ON" switch was on the back!
After the first bath, which went swimmingly, I decided to try making a smoothie
I put in the liquid - non-dairy milk, and then the frozen bananas and berries. I used the pre-programmed smoothie button. It needed more liquid, and eventually it got all blended.
I think it needed even more liquid because when I turned the pitcher upside down, it didn't move. I helped it along and it was good! I hoped it would blend out the blackberry seeds - there were still a few in my smoothie. But I have already figured out that if you don't have enough liquid it is so thick that it forms a bubble around the blades and doesn't pull the ingredients through anymore - like every blender I've ever used - and with just a little more liquid it starts to really move and blend.
My second experiment with my new kitchen toy I had to take a second mortgage out to pay for - just kidding, I actually got a good deal using my 20% off coupon from Bed Bath & Beyond - was to make a fat free, egg free, dairy free mayonnaise using extra firm tofu. I tried it with my Ninja blender at the beginning of my new WFPB diet and it was not smooth and grossed me out and I threw it out. So I was hoping for amazing results with my new Blendtec.
Learning curve. Don't just put one solid chunk of tofu in the blender - you need to break it up into pieces. The recipe from ProtectiveDiet.com called for 2 TBS filtered water - but I decided to use apple cider vinegar. It was still too thick to really pull the ingredients through - so I added one more TBS of filtered water and it really started moving the mixture well and turned out very smooth! Finally I had the mayo with the right texture!
One of the things that happens with this diet is your tastebuds adapt, over time, to the recipes with no sugar, no oils, no additives - so that REAL food is good enough without all that stuff we've gotten so used to but is killing us. We put oil in things that there is no reason to put oil in. Food manufacturers put some form of sugar in almost everything you buy in the store. When I was a kid, the only specialty flavor potato chips available were sour cream and chives - and there was no sugar in potato chips. Now EVERY flavor of potato chips is sweet - and I'm like - "what the heck? Who wants sweet chips? This isn't dessert!" But my kids are used to it and like that sweet - it is high fructose corn syrup that is more addictive than heroine - they put it in everything to get us to eat more, crave more More MORE!!!
So cutting that stuff out takes a few weeks to break our addiction and reset so we can be satisfied without it.
MOVING ON EVEN FURTHER . . .
I get these uncooked whole wheat tortillas in the refrigerator section of Smith's where I like to shop - and I love the way they bake into tortilla chips, crackers AND my new discovery - you can make crunchy tortilla BOWLS with them!
I have some stainless steel bowls just the right size and I draped a raw tortilla over the bowl and placed in a 400 F oven for seven minutes. Actually, the first one, I put inside the upturned bowl and then placed another bowl in that to sort of keep it in place - it took longer because I had to take off the top bowl and let it cook longer and I had to put aluminum foil around the edges so they didn't get burned. The second one I put the bowl upside down and draped the tortilla on the outside and that worked a lot better - it was done and ready in 7 minutes.
Then I made one of my favorite restaurant items - a taco salad - I thought I'd have to give them up forever, but now I can make my own!
I spread a layer of Trader Joe's Fat-Free Refried Beans - that are just beans water and salt, and a layer of organic mixed power greens, then a layer of chunky fresh salsa, then some of ProtectiveDiet.com's "No Fat Not Yo Cheeze Sauce" and a dollop of ranch dressing and a few ripe green olives.
Gosh it was good!
If I'd thought ahead I would have spread a layer of cooked brown rice on top of the beans.
There is always next time!
The bowls were crispy without any fat! I just love the crunchy bowl, the mushy beans, the crispy greens and chunky and creamy textures all together in this meal.
My mouth doesn't have to give up the textures and flavors it loves to eat healthy!
I use a pizza cutter to cut my raw whole wheat tortillas into wedges for chips - layout on a silicone mat on a cookie sheet, then I spread with a silicone pastry brush a mixture of lemon juice and hot sauce on top so when I sprinkle sea salt on top it sticks to the chips - I bake for 7 minutes at 400 F - they get all poofy and crispy and I just love them.
Someone had wondered about crackers - so I thought - "Hey, I will try making crackers out of these raw tortillas - I put them on the silicone mat on the cookie sheet and just cut them into squares where they lay with a pizza cutter, brushed with the same lemon juice and hot sauce, and sprinkled with garlic powder and sea salt.
Baked for 7 minutes in a 400 F oven and they turned out like little wheat thins - just no fat! You can add whatever topping you like before baking - garlic, onion, dill, smoked paprika - cayenne pepper - the smell from the oven was delish!
Two tortillas covered the entire large cookie sheet - made as many crackers as would come in a box - so much cheaper and so much better!