Eddie Izzard

On Thursday night, I used the three tortillas I had left and made a kind of enchilada lasagna where I put a little sauce on the bottom of a pie plate, put in the brown ground turkey (which I cooked with some Taco seasoning) and a little cheese, put on the second tortilla, more turkey and cheese and then the final tortilla and poured the can of enchilada sauce over the top, then the rest of the cheese. (There was about a cup overall). When I was done, I put a cup of corn and half a head of romaine lettuce and a little sour cream on top. I cut it into 4 slices.

Friday morning, I took a whole wheat english muffin and cut it half. I topped each half with a slice of american cheese and a scrambled egg. It was an open-faced Egg McMuffin.

For lunch, Dov and I split the leftover turkey enchilada pie minus the lettuce and sour cream. The tortillas had become kind of an elastic pasta, but it was still tasty. I had the last of the red grapes as well.

For dinner, we met our friends Rick and Gail for dinner at Johnny Rockets at Pacific Place. I had the regular cheeseburger, and Dov and I split the fries.


Then we went to see Eddie Izzard at the Paramount. He did this bit about giraffes reacting to a tiger that was so hilarious. And he had this thing about Noah's Ark that was just hysterical. So brilliant. We were in the very last row and the house was packed. His bit about Darth Vader having to tie his shoes and use the bathroom was genius. I don't agree with his views on religion or politics, but I laughed the whole time.

After the show, we went with Rick & Gail and a couple of Rick's co-workers to Cheesecake Factory. I had 7/8ths of a slice of the carrot cake cheesecake which has bits of carrot cake mixed in with cheesecake, and a couple of bites of Dov's blackout cake. Most of the cake is now sitting in my fridge, but we may have to stick it in the freezer since I've had two desserts this week. They had a low carb cheesecake that I could have tried, but I didn't.

This morning for breakfast, I had yogurt and blueberries with granola. For lunch, I had a whole wheat dinner roll and tuna & mayo and the remaining pineapple.

Not sure what we're doing for dinner at the moment, but I'll see what's in the fridge. We have a whole bunch of corn that we need to use, so I'll figure something out with that...

Granny is 80 again!

For dinner last night, I made penne pasta with italian sweet sausage, olives, artichoke hearts and the remaining Ragu sauce. I didn't measure it, but I only had one serving (which is an improvement. I usually have two.)

After dinner, Dov and I went to QFC and bought a single chocolate cupcake and took it to my Grandmother for her birthday. She was very excited to see me and said she'd just ride home with me. She's in a nursing home in North Seattle and suffers from dementia. I'm not sure where she thought she was, but she asked if it was a long trip from Seattle. She was also convinced that Jerry (her youngest son) had borrowed her car because she couldn't find her car keys. When we arrived, she said she had planned to take the bus home in the morning, but she'd just ride with us instead. We told her our car was too small, and she said she'd just stay there since she was planning to anyway. (sigh)

We visited her for a little bit and split the cupcake. She had the lions share, and I had a few bites, which I tried to get primarily in cake and not frosting which was almost as voluminous as the cupcake! She really enjoyed her card and kept re-reading it. One of the benefits of dementia is that everything is new. (sigh) One of the downsides is that she kept bringing up my weight. I know she means well, but my past experience has been that after I get about 40 pounds down from where I am now, she'll tell me I'm getting too thin, even though technically, I could lose another 40 to 60 pounds!

On that subject, two people have now commented on how much I'm losing. One of them was Dov, so I wasn't sure, but someone that works in our lobby mentioned it too. Can't wait to see what's on the scale on the 29th!

After visiting with Granny, Dov and I returned home and watched tv while the dogs ran around. I had an Otter pop and Dov had three plus a bowl of rainbow sherbert.

For breakfast this morning, I chopped up two slices of bacon, poured off the fat and scrambled three eggs over the bacon bits. I served it on wheat toast.

For lunch, I had leftover pasta. We must have eaten the majority of the sausage last night, because there were only two pieces in the container, but there were lots of artichoke hearts and about 4 large olives. I also had a bunch of red grapes.

My strategy is to use up what's in the fridge before it goes bad. I might make ground turkey enchiladas for dinner tonight. I only have four tortillas left, so I'll make a small batch and save the rest of the enchilada sauce. OK, now I'm getting hungry...

Fishing, fishing and more fishing

For dinner last night, I had a bleu cheese burger (a frozen hamburger pattie topped with a tablespoon of bleu cheese with a whole wheat dinner roll as a bun and lettuce and a sliver of onions). I had a large bunch of red grapes with it.

Dov was fishing last night with his friends from work and I got to watch The Producers so I didn't mind so much. However, I ended up eating six poptarts and a huge bowl of rainbow sherbet and a few handfuls of pistachios until Dov called to say when he'd be back.

That was wierd.

For breakfast, Dov and I split an english muffin and had a fried egg and three turkey sausages (they had to be used up or they'd go bad) and I had a glass of orange juice.

Dov did the dishes this morning, which was excellent.

For lunch I packed him a ham sandwich and some grapes.

For myself, I made a ham and cheese sandwich on a cinnamon raisin english muffin. It is supposed to have walnuts and apples and be grilled, but we're out of apples. I also grabbed a large bunch of grapes. I think I like red grapes better than green ones. Eating grapes reminds me of my grandmother. It's her birthday today.

I'm going to find something on Mealmixer for dinner that's quick and doesn't involve a lot of cooking, because the apartment is hot enough as it is!

Bookworm adventures

For dinner last night we had the Olympian Greek Salad, which is cucumber, tomato, feta cheese, olives and red onions tossed with lemon juice and olive oil. I made some baked pita chips and panfried a boneless skinless chicken breast and split it between the two bowls. I sliced up half the rest of the pineapple and an orange and put two bunches of grapes on the plate and dov ate all but one slice of pineapple and the entire orange before dinner was done.

For breakfast this morning, I had a yogurt, granola and a banana. For lunch, I made a roast beef wrap with romaine lettuce and avocado and had an orange.

I'll consult the menu for dinner, but I'm thinking the bleu cheese burgers sound good.

My lower back hurts today. I went walking yesterday, and I have a feeling I need to replace my shoes. I took an Aleve this morning, and that's helped.

I also think I may have another ovarian cyst, as I'm getting a lot of pain in my lower left abdomen, and the doctor saw a cyst on the left ovary. It's a dull pain, so I'll live.

I played Bookworm Adventures last night, and Dov was upset with me. He's going fishing tonight. Time to put away the laptop after dinner...

Meal Mixer

On Saturday evening, we had the Chicken, beet & Bleu cheese salad. We didn't really feel like fixing chicken nuggets, but the salads were large enough that didn't matter. We made a fruit salad with an orange, an apple, two bananas, a "vine" each of green and red grapes, a cup of blueberries, a mango, and half a fresh pineapple tossed in a little orange juice. We had that for dessert. Dov had two bowls, I had one.

For breakfast on Sunday, we made the poached eggs with garlic mushrooms which was incredible. For lunch, I packed Dov a roast beef wrap and a glad container of fruit salad. I had a turkey swiss lettuce wrap and fruit salad. For dinner, I made a recipe called "Dude Ranch Pork & Beans" which was a can of van de Kamp's Pork & Beans, a can of kidney beans, a can of sweet corn, 1/2 cup of salsa, 1/2 cup of barbecue sauce and 2 1/2 links of italian sweet sausage. I put it all in the crockpot at 2 and it cooked on low until 6:30 when Dov got home. For dessert, Dov went to the market and bought a pint of whipping cream. I made way too much, but we had it as a topper on the remainder of the fruit salad. He also brought home otter pops, and I had two of them. And even after brushing my teeth, my tongue was still purple this morning...

For breakfast, I made the bacon egg english muffin pizza thing, without the cheese or pizza sauce. Dov and I split an english muffin and I didn't use any butter. At lunch, we're having the rest of the pork & Beans, which is terrific still. I also brought an apple. For dinner tonight, we're having the Olympian Greek Salad, with the possible addition of an avocado depending on how ripe it is, and Chicken tapenade sandwiches. (Or possibly the Turkey Feta burger patties like we're supposed to, depending on if I have to have the turkey defrosted before adding the feta...otherwise, we'll have those tomorrow.)

I'll make another fruit salad tonight, sans mango, and use up the rest of the pineapple.

I've discovered Dov likes dessert, and feels cheated if he doesn't get it. Fortunately, the fruit salad counts!

What's that I said about daily blogging?

Tuesday night we had Chicken in an improvised barbecue sauce, potatoes sliced thin and baked with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, and peas with honey. Stephanie made a fresh peach pie for dessert. It was fantastic.

Wednesday was our first day eating off the Meal Mixer menu. We had scrambled eggs and sausage for breakfast. We were also supposed to have raisin bran, but I was stuffed after just that. For lunch, we had roast beef wraps where I used a whole wheat tortilla, a little mayo, some thin sliced roast beef and a half cup of spinach. We were supposed to have some low fat potato chips, but I had some leftover 100 calorie packs of Oreos so I had that instead. For dinner, I made Goat cheese Pasta with whole wheat penne from Barilla, some sliced tomatoes and a large clove of garlic. It was absolute heaven. With it, we had pecan broccoli, where we toasted a clove of garlic and some pecans in 1 tbl of olive oil, then sauteed the broccoli afterwards. It was really good. Dov was still hungry after dinner, so he had some lime sherbert. I was stuffed, and just drank some water.

Thursday, we had a bacon breakfast pizza: whole wheat english muffin topped with bacon (1 slice per person) and an egg over easy topped with 1 tbl of mozzerella. We were supposed to have scrambled eggs as well, but just the pizza was enough. It was also supposed to have pizza sauce on it, but it was good without it. For lunch, I made Turkey & Swiss Lettuce wraps and jarred applesauce. I took a romano lettuce leaf and spread a little mayo, then put on two slices of deli turkey and a slice of processed swiss cheese. I put a slice of onion on it and wrapped it up. I took a small jar of applesauce and about 10 grape tomatoes. I got home from work early and had a banana. It wasn't on the menu, but Judy and I had budgeted an extra 30-60 carbs that are not listed on the menu, so I didn't feel bad about it. I did, however feel bad about the Milk Duds I snacked on before I made dinner. I ended up throwing the box away since most of them were melted together, but I'd still had about 20 of them before I stopped. I'm pretty sure that's the last of the candy in the house. Now when I get snacky, I grab a handful of almonds or pistachios. For dinner, we had a vegetable pizza. I rolled out a Pillsbury pizza dough and topped it with a 1/2 cup Garden Combination spaghetti sauce from Ragu. (I found the pizza sauce in the cupboard later...) I topped it with green onions, black olives, artichoke hearts and sliced roma tomatoes. I topped it all with shredded mozzerella. I cut it into eight slices and ended up having three. It was really good.

Friday, I had a western omelet with cubed ham, green pepper (the remainder from last night) onions and egg substitute. I had a slice of wheat toast with it. For lunch, I had the remainder of the vegetable pizza. For dinner, we went to our friends house for a barbecue. I had three crackers with crab/shrimp dip, a couple of tortilla chips and guacamole, some large chunks of grilled chicken and peppers. Angela made a salad with cucumbers, avocado and red onion in a red wine vinagarette which was fantastic. I had more chips with salsa and guacamole. I ended up drinking two diet cokes, a root beer and a regular coke over the course of the afternoon. For dessert, someone made an apple cake with a coconut topping. I ate a 2" square, and finished Dovs. He kept going back and grazing while we played croquet and horseshoes, which was fun with the pugs running around! THANK GOD we've been working on the "come" command. Bubbles was almost hit twice, but she was sufficiently tired out by the time the fireworks came on TV.

This morning for breakfast, I had a cordon bleu omelet with toast. Actually, I took two thin sliced pieces of deli ham and put it in a pan topped with a slice of swiss cheese. When the cheese was warm, I put in a 1/3 cup of egg substitute and when I tried to pick up the sides to see if I could fold it, it squished. So I took the whole wheat toast, put the ham & cheese on top of it, scrambled the rest of the egg subsitute and made an open face sandwich. For lunch, I'll have the Tuna Sandwich with a 100 calorie pack of Oreos. For dinner, we're having Chicken Beet & Bleu Cheese Salad, chicken nuggets, a fruit salad and refrigerator biscuits.

I like this Meal Mixer idea. I'm going to experiment next week and see if I can shift more calories to lunch and dinner. And, I've been kind of mixing and matching with the meals, too. I have a feeling some days are more carb heavy than others, but I've got the extra 30-60 carb snacks to play with.

I've found that I'm not starving at lunch when I have more protein at breakfast, and then I'm not as hungry when I get home. I have a handful of almonds when I get home and that takes the edge off until Dov gets home for dinner.

I need to start doing more exercise as well. I've been walking with Melissa, but we missed a couple of days last week because of the rain. We missed on Wednesday, but Scott and I built my new desk, and we were both sweating pretty hard by the end. It looks good though. We need to fix a couple of things, but we need an electric screwdriver to do it. We'll have it all fixed on Monday.

Dov's working again today and I'm doing laundry. And hanging out with the dogs. Good time for yoga!

The weekend

Friday night we saw Wall-E. I never thought Pixar could pull off a silent movie, but it's very cute. Before we left, we took the rest of our bagged salad mix and sliced up the remaining flank steak that I warmed up in the microwave. It was fantastic.

Saturday, I had cereal for breakfast and the leftover salad with a little shredded Italian Cheese and some more mushrooms. For dinner, I picked up chicken kebabs from Albertsons. Dov picked up Shrimp skewers on his way home, so we had those grilled with another bagged salad with a sliced up avocado and several vegetables. There was a lot of salad left over. I had also boiled some red potatoes, so we had those too. Very tasty!

Sunday, I had toaster waffles and syrup for breakfast. Yummy! Then for lunch I had leftover salad with cheese and a yogurt. And a small box of strawberry whoppers. I was bored. Dov works on the weekends, and the 4th will be the 2nd long weekend I'll spend by myself. (sigh) I need a strategy to fight snacking in the late afternoons. I also had a major headache. For dinner, we went downtown and I had sweet & Sour pork with rice.

Monday, I had the last of the waffles for breakfast. At lunch, I had the leftover sweet & sour pork and a yogurt. In the afternoon, I nibbled on baby carrots. For dinner, we went to Chipotle, and I had a vegetarian burrito. It was really good.

I found a website called Mealmixer.com, where I can print out menus, recipes and shopping lists, and signed up. We went grocery shopping, and even the checkout clerk mentioned how I had cleaned out the produce department. I'm looking forward to our first true day on the plan. (Tonight, we are going to dinner at a friend's house, so no idea what's on the menu.) I'm having a salad at Quizno's for lunch today. I said I wanted a low carb diet, and the daily totals of carbs are around 150. Is that good? I'll have to ask Judy...

More blogging daily, I promise. And less candy.