Pleased as punch!

As today is Saturday, the day I weigh in for the week to gauge my progress, I'm super-pleased to report that, even though I indulged somewhat during Christmas, my weight today was 145.0!!! I actually lost 0.6 of a pound!! Fuckin' YEAH!!!!

No shit! (Just discovered this yesterday at the health store...)

Delicious D Vitamin D3 Liquid Drops

I've been (regrettably) neglecting my vitamin D supplementation lately because I can't stand having to take a pill for this and a pill for that. This fantastic product makes it SO EASY to get my 4000 IU of D3 a day, simply by taking 4 drops either on my tongue or hand, in my glass of water, whatever! There's no extra crap in there, either, and the cinnamon flavour is divine. The ingredients are listed as:

- Vitamin D3 (Cholecalciferol)...25 mcg/1000 IU
- Medium chain triglycerides (from Coconut)
- Natural cinnamon flavour derived from cinnamon bark

Formulated without gluten, dairy, corn, yeast, artificial colour or preservatives.

Made in Canada, too! :D

Yay, it's over! (Christmas, that is...)

Gone are the cookies and other crap. Any gifts of chocolate received were passed on to others who still eat that stuff. Yes, a small few were eaten by moi, but now things are back to normal - back to eating real food.

The Morning After

Yesterday was Christmas dinner at Dad's, which consisted of my step-mom's always delicious dishes like curry goat, turkey, roast duck, candied sweet potatoes, stuffing, etc. etc. I ate, not worrying too much about how much (bread) stuffing or mashed potatoes I was having (and the two stiff rum 'n Coke's went down pretty well too!); it's Christmas, dammit! :)

I barely had room when the desserts came out, but I couldn't pass them up (see above). I tried a small piece of oh-so-moist Christmas cake (which wasn't loaded with candied fruit chunks, thankfully) and a couple of homemade shortbread cookies. I didn't have enough room to have any raisin tarts or cherry pie, which was just fine with me. My coffee had less than a teaspoon of sugar added and some half and half cream. Amazingly, it still tasted sweet enough, considering I used to put two teaspoons of sugar.

With a sore, bulging belly I made my way over to the couch to relax (and stay away from everyone, since I was sick with a cold). When we got home I had my Greens+ drink, eventually downed my two DDS Acidophilus capsules, and went to bed knowing full well that I wasn't going to sleep. I just knew; my breathing was rapid, the air felt cold coming into my nose (sucks, when you're sick), my heart was racing and so was my brain. I couldn't relax one bit.

I tossed and turned until about 3:30am when I couldn't stand it anymore and went to the office to surf the net. I also made myself a NeoCitrin in hopes of soothing my throat (and myself!) enough to sleep. At around 6:30am I headed back to bed to try again. A few Zs were had, though I was awake again at 9:30 when hunnybun got up. He then disappeared into the basement in hopes of letting me sleep some more.

A few more Zs were had, but I gave up at around 12:30pm. I feel better now but we're going to my sister's for dinner tomorrow night and I will probably eat some more crap. Whatever; it's Christmas. :)

The Good, Bad, and the Ugly

The Good: I got on the scale this morning and (WOOHOO!) it read my new lowest weight in years; 145.6! YES!! Yesterday was a very productive day in the washroom (thank you, Greens+???) so I hoped that it would make a difference on the scale today. Yay!

My mom and nephew stopped by this evening for some Christmas cheer and to open up ONE gift each. I wasn't making a dinner so we had a veggie platter, hummus, some shrimp with seafood sauce, and pumpernickel bread with spinach dip.

The Bad: I was hoping it would go away after awhile; that tell-tale dryness I had in the back of my throat yesterday. This morning when I woke up it was dry AND sore. Great. Just in time for family gatherings at Christmas.

The Ugly: I ate some of the pumpernickel bread, some of the delicious homemade shortbread cookies Mom made for us, aaaand, she made some baking powder biscuits (tea buscuits) from a Fanny Farmer recipe. OMG they were so good...

For background music I had a Christmas channel from Iceberg Radio on. I'm done with Christmas music for this year now. Especially those damn chipmunks.

Merry Christmas, everyone!!

Non-Exercise Types and More Ramblings

Non-exercise types. Yes, I am one of them. I've never been that much into exercise and while I'd like to blame my lack of motivation on diet/weight/lifestyle/whatever, I really don't know why I don't feel like getting out of this chair more often.

I can't blame diet right now anyway, since I'm eating very clean and have been for over a year now, with just a few cheats here and there. ("Birthday season" in my family starts in September and I just can't resist my step-mom's homemade chocolate cake.) Heck, this "lifestyle" (it's not just a DIET!) of eating "primally" is enough on it's own to drop some excess weight and KEEP IT OFF for over a year and counting. This is without regular exercise AND while working an office job.

Think about that.

Now think about your friends, your co-workers, the general population that is overweight and fluffy. You hear "whoever" constantly complaining that they want to lose a few pounds...when they see themselves in the mirror they whine about their acne or the size of their ass...they say they're going to join a gym (AGAIN, and since they threw away their money before you want to say "just give the money to me, since you won't go anyway!).

I used to be like this...heck, I still comment on my tummy or whatnot, BUT, making this change to my diet alone was the first crucial step in changing myself. Without forcing myself to run on a treadmill or get out my old workout DVD I lost 20 pounds and it has STAYED OFF.

The general population is always looking for a simple (lazy, half-assed, don't want to break a sweat or get off the couch) way to lose weight. Diet pills and surgery are the laziest options in my humble opinion, they're dangerous (for example, some diet pills are no longer "on the market" due to health risks yet some desperados still source them out!), and these people almost always re-gain the weight back soon after.

The easiest change to make is to change what you stuff into your piehole (I love that word hehe)! The only caveat (and deal-breaker for many) is that *gasp!* you need to cook your own meals using *gasp!* real foooooood! This requirement of preparing and cooking meals is what people dread. They have no idea how to cook meals using real food and goddamnit, it's easier and faster to throw that frozen dinner box into the microwave! They don't want to spend an hour prepping and cooking! And then the CLEANUP...who the hell wants to spend 10 minutes washing pots and pans! The HORROR!

I used to be that person too. I had no interest in cooking when I was growing up, I didn't have the same palette as my mother (and didn't like what she'd make), and with all the fast food restaurants around and frozen meals available, why the hell would I waste my valuable time cooking??! I didn't even own a proper cookware set!

When I gained weight from eating these so-called "healthy" frozen dinners and was still hungry, that was it for me. The salt content in these things is CRAZY. I later learned, through reading about Paleo and Primal), how much of these "meals" were man-made and my eyes were opened. For good.

Even though I didn't know how to cook I started buying REAL FOOD and cooking it, experimenting and phoning family members for help. Sure I ruined a few roasts (I still do LOL) but there were some great-tasting meals starting to develop. Best of all, the weight started dropping. I was excited to learn more, and with all the resources out there (Mark's Daily Apple, etc.) there's a SHITLOAD of easy Paleo and Primal recipes to be found. Ribs in the slow cooker all day with just a few simple seasonings are TO DIE FOR. So simple even a caveman could do it (har!). ;)

Anyway, my point is that one can easily get started on the path to better health by simply changing their eating habits, even if they aren't the "exercising type". The only way to lose weight is to change something, and this is the best (tastiest!) way out there. You have to start somewhere, and why not give your body what it needs as a starting point??

Changes...

Today was the first day in a whole week that I didn't have to fight off a headache. The gas has also subsided (YES!!!!) and I've a bit of diarrhea. I'm still a bit bloated in the belly though, and I'm finding that I'm still full from dinner when it's time for my Greens+ drink. Hmm.

I also decided today that I would try making Dark Chocolate Macadamia Bark Sprinkled with Sea Salt to hand out for xmas. It was super-easy to make but I didn't buy enough dark chocolate to make the quantity I wanted and I forgot the damned sea salt! Thankfully, chocolate is on sale this week at my local supermarket so I went and bought 12 more bars to make 3 more batches. The macadamia nuts were a pretty penny - almost $30 for just under 2 kgs at Bulk Barn. Not going to do this often, but it's a special occasion so it's ok!

Bacon is also on sale so I bought 16 packages...lol.

Hmmm...and mmm!

I'm not sure if it's stress-related due to my next exam being on Thursday evening, but for several days in a row now I've been fighting off headaches. Maybe it's the change in weather...hmmm.

Last night a few co-workers and I went out for dinner to celebrate the completion of a pain-in-the-ass client...I mean, project, and I tried bison meatloaf! It was incredibly tasty, likely due to the bacon wrapped around it, the rich gravy, and whatever spices and unmentionables added, but I would absolutely order it again! I'm not supposed to touch any sugar, flour or alcohol during the YeastBusters program, but I had a chocolate martini anyway. I'm not experiencing any "yeast die-off" symptoms (unless that's what the gassy ass is all about! haha!!), so I figure I don't have a severe-enough case of yeast overgrowth to worry about one drink.

Hunnybun made dinner tonight while I did some studying:


Salmon is on special this week so we stocked up. The rest of the dish consists of onion, celery, red/yellow/orange bell peppers, garlic, and shredded coconut (!). It really turned out delicious and he kept the celery crunchy so it was a nice light, refreshing dinner. Two thumbs up! :)

Dairy

The only dairy I've consumed for three weeks has been butter, and I've recently noticed three things:

1. My sinuses are clearer than they've ever been; the only times I really need to clear them are first thing in the morning, after I sneeze, or after walking outside in the cold for a bit (wet, cold schnoz).

2. My mild rosacea has suddenly gotten a bit worse; this week I have small bumps and more redness on my cheeks. My face feels warm and flushed a lot of the time. It's NOT menopause! LOL


3. I'm getting my first pimple in a LONG time. :(

Prior to starting the YeastBusters program I didn't drink a lot of milk but I would have (higher-fat) yogourt and put cream in my coffee. I actually don't miss the yogourt (surprising, because I LOVED the really thick stuff!) and I'm fine having almond milk in coffee (unsweetened, chocolate flavoured variety preferred).

I wonder if I'll ever go back to using cream.

Our Fridge...and gas???

This is the fullest it's ever been, and most of it is leftover meals and fresh food next in line to be cooked. Ignore the bottle of Coke (that's his) and the KFC (the chicken, fries and gravy are mine and the salad is his...we had nothing ready to cook for dinner on Thursday past so we ordered in. It happens.).

There's a shitload of delicious food for us to eat for the next few days. It's never looked so appetizing (again, except for the crap already mentioned lol).


The other thing I wanted to mention is the insane amount of gas I've had for the past few days. I don't know exactly what's causing it, but it's fucking lethal!!! Is it the Greens+?? Anyone know??

Today's Meal - Chicken Stew with Pumpkin "Pie" for Dessert

This afternoon was spent prepping a crapload of various vegetables for the chicken stew. Hunnybun did the grocery run (thank you again, Sweetie!) while I chop-chop-chopped in the kitchen. Here's the pot of stew after we already doled out our first portions:


Then came the dessert (perfectly primal, thankyouverymuch! :)):


To make the crust, combine the following in the food processor:

- Freshly-ground almond meal
- Melted butter
- Various yummy spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice

Press it into baking dish of choice.

For the filling:

- 1 can of pure pumpkin puree
- About a cup of coconut milk
- More of the above-mentioned spices

Pre-bake the crust in the dish. I only did mine for 10 mins at 350F but realized later it needed a bit longer.

Pour in the filling, spread it around, and bake at 350F until a toothpick inserted near the middle comes out clean. (For me, using a gas convection oven, it was around 40 mins.) Let it cool a bit before slicing.


I didn't realize that when you slice the root end off a bunch of celery that you end up with a pretty rose! That made me smile. :D

2-Ingredient "Cake"...First Attempt

I went down to the kitchen tonight with the intention of opening a can of tuna and eating it, but then I remembered we bought eggs last night so I got sidetracked!

Here's where I got the idea from.

When I first saw that thread, I bought a package of un-sweetened baker's chocolate to use for the recipe. That was about a month ago. Tonight, I finally got around to trying this out.

I took 100g (5 pieces) of the chocolate:


I then put the bowl into the microwave for 20 seconds at a time until the chocolate was melted enough to stir:


Next, I learned a lesson; that I should have let the chocolate cool down a bit before adding the egg to it. The egg started to cook a little as I stirred it in:


Once the egg was mixed in as best I could, back into the microwave the bowl went, for about 40 more seconds (my microwave is pretty powerful!). Here was the result!


Beauty! It was perfectly moist and spongy. However, unless you like a bitter chocolate "cake", don't use un-sweetened baker's chocolate. I'm getting minor tummy cramps now. Next time I'll use 85% cocoa, but there WILL be a next time! :D

MORE WATER!

I NEED to be drinking more water...clearly I'm not drinking enough!!

(Ouchies.)

Curry Pork Stew

Curry pork stew...a dinner I pulled outta my butt tonight (not literally!). :)
It has cubed boneless pork, onions, pigeon peas, and apple pieces. Next time I'll make this in the crock pot and add a second apple. It was tasty!

Just for the hell of it...

I weighed myself again this morning upon rising, after emptying my bladder. 146.6! Awesome!

No, I'm not going to be weighing myself every day going forward - just thought I'd see after all the bowel movements I had yesterday hehehehe. :)

...aaaaaaaand I'll now introduce a new label (tag) at this point: TMI! :D

After Two Weeks on the YeastBusters Program...

I'm holding steady at 147.9 lbs and although there were a couple of days where I couldn't drink as much water as I should have, I'm still regular.

Last night I started taking Greens+; one spoonful mixed in a cup of water (today I used unsweetened apple juice instead). It tastes like oddly-fruity green hell if you keep it in your mouth too long. The juice helped but made it way too sweet overall, so tomorrow I'll try it with more water than juice.

Slept like a log last night and went for a walk with my mom today. I made a huge bowl of popcorn for my hunnybun with a generous amount of melted butter drizzled over it (OMFG) and I resisted having even one kernel. Wow. One of my (now, former?) weaknesses.

I tell you, once I am finished the 8-or so weeks of this program I will be treating myself with something decadent and sinfully chocolatey! (I just hope that by that time I will be able to eat one thing as a treat and not need to eat 8 of them or every day, etc.)

Update

Thought I'd post an update since I have now been on the YeastBuster program for a week.

Day one (Monday):
- Mixed the drink together using just water. OMFG - NARSTY!! Got a few gulps down before the taste hit me. Couldn't touch any more so the rest went down the drain.

- Went to grocery store to get some unsweetened fruit juice to mix into the next one.

- Forgot to take the DDS Acidophilus pills before bed. Oops.

Day two:
- Mixed half water and half unsweetened pineapple juice in the drink. MUCH better! Downed the whole cup and then realized I was only supposed to use 2oz of juice with the rest being water. Oops.

- Remembered the damn DDS Acidophilus pills at bedtime. Yay!

Day three:
- Drink tasted just fine with the 2oz of juice. Yay! Finally doing it right.

Day four:
- Had my drink in the morning. After work I met up with my BFF to see Breaking Dawn. Picked up some dinner from Loblaw's (grocery store); salmon and sweet potato fries (sweet potatoes are on the 'reduce' list during the YB program). Had no problem walking by all the junk food in the store. I was hoping to grab a bag of plantain chips to munch on during the movie but they didn't have any. At the theatre I had nachos and cheese (hey look, another weakness!). BFF bought the nacho combo for me, which came with a gargantuan pop (that I didn't drink...the sweetie was thoughtful enough to get me Coke Zero lol).

- Experienced strange tummy grumblings after eating, unrelated to what was going on in the movie (heh).

Day five:
- Drink in the morning. Today I noticed how perfect my poops are this week. Stealth! :)

- Forgot to take one of the two DDS Acidophilus pills at bedtime. Oops.

Day six:
- Drink in the morning. Ate pork roast leftovers for breakfast. Awesome bowel movement shortly thereafter. Got on the scale for the hell of it, expecting to see ~150 again. Nope!! 147.8!!! WOOHOOO!!!


Part of this daily drink is a spoonful of psyllium powder, so I have to drink lots and lots of water...which means constantly having to pee like a racehorse, but it's important so that I don't get stopped up.

I'll weigh myself again next Saturday to see how things are going, and then I'll also begin taking Greens+ as directed.

I'm also poo-free again, using only ACV as a rinse in every shower. While it's in my hair I use my scalp massager brush to loosen up any dandruff. Next week I finally have a hair appointment and am going back to short and flippy hair. Can't wait!!

Thennnnnnn, right after my haircut, we're off to see The Tea Party in Toronto!! I hope they play this song....it's my favourite:

I *heart* my crock pot!!

Salt, pepper, roasted garlic and pepper spice, Italian spices, splash of soya sauce and splash of Worcestershire sauce. Put in crock pot on low for about 5-6 hours. Christ on a bike, were they ever good!! :)

An over-due update

Let's see...where to start?

I'm pretty sure I have candidiasis, based on the opinion of an online contact (who says he has a BSC and PHD in naturopathy and homeopathy):

If you're sugar-addicted you most likely have candida overgrowth in your gut. MD's should have their licenses revoked for reckless negligence as we see so much of this. They prescribe antibiotics like candy, and never recommend the patient follow up with probiotics. Prescribing antibiotics is ok, but antibiotics these days tend to wipe out all your gut flora as they're broad spectrum. If you have a white fuzz on your tongue in the morning, sugar-addicted, bloated after carbs/sugar, brainfog-ish, that's candida at work.

The sugar cravings are actually the yeast begging you to feed it. Once you get rid of it, the sugar cravings disappear. You must follow the candida diet (much like Atkins), and take both natural and medical antifungal drugs (Diflucan 100 MG, 30 Tabs, one pill, once daily) and no sugar! Sugar is candida food. Natural antifungals do work, but not as well as Diflucan which blows up the yeast cell. As the yeast cells blow up, you will feel crappy as all the toxins from these cells are dumped into your bloodstream. This is called die-off. Drink a ton of water. You can buy a Yeastbusters kit at any health food store, and a bottle of garlic capsules (not odor free) and chew on real garlic cloves as well.

Also, OOO (Oil Of Oregano) in liquid form, five drops on the tongue, breath in and out ten times, take a sip of water, swish in mouth, and swallow will kill yeast from mouth to the other end. Garlic and OOO are the most powerful natural antifungals. Buy a large bottle of probiotics (acidophilus/bifidus) to recolonize your guy flora. This will put your gut flora back into proper balance. Take the probiotics for the rest of your life and only use pharmaceutical antibiotics if your life is in jeopardy. OOO will kill most any bug/cold/flu you will ever come across in your life. And it won't destroy your gut flora.

Read all you can on Candida, buy the book The Yeast Syndrome, follow my guidelines and those in the book and you'll notice in four weeks or so you'll be able to walk through a bakery and look at sweets and you'll look at, smell the bread and you'll come to the realization that you don't crave it anymore.

I don't see myself munching on fresh garlic cloves but I have started taking spoonfuls of EV coconut oil, which is also an anti-fungal. I'm thinking of buying the Yeast Busters kit but I should at least ask my family doctor if the ingredients included in the kit are safe for me before I spend the $100 or so. I really would like to kick this sugar habit...

Beef marrow bones

I saw a package of these bones a few weeks ago and thought I'd try them out. Into the freezer they went for awhile, and this weekend I finally got around to dealing with them.

After defrosting in the fridge for a couple days I roasted them in the oven for 20 mins at 450F. The smaller ones looked nice and done (the larger ones still looked red and nasty) so I thinly sliced some little buns, toasted them, and spread the marrow on them. It was pretty tasty and Rabbit thought so too.

The crockpot was standing by, pre-loaded with baby carrots (all I had), celery, onion, two cloves of fresh garlic and a bit of freshly-ground salt and pepper. The bones went in and I filled the crock almost to the top with water. It's on low and will run at least until tomorrow. I look forward to drinking the stock...yummmmm!

Tasty dindins

Wild salmon (fried in butter in the cast iron skillet) with lots of zucchini and peppers fried in bacon fat, and fresh garlic, which I'm REALLY starting to appreciate.

Getting back on track

I'm managing to change some of my bad habits again and eat better food. In just a couple of days I'm back down to 152.2 (the other day I was 154.5) and feeling a little better.

We've made a couple of stir fry dinners this week and unfortunately rice made a reappearance on our plate. At the very least, it wasn't instant rice! Usual ingredients in our stir fry include large chunks of zucchini, bell peppers, garlic, and sweet onion. These are fried up in hot bacon fat and then we usually add some sort of leftover protein (last night it was hamburger). Hot damn, it was delicious. It got eaten so quickly there wasn't any time for photos.

Tonight we're going to our friends' house for dinner and drinks, so I will try to be good under the circumstances.

I feel like shit.

My eating habits....well, hunger pangs are out of control. I am a slave to sugar and salt and Philly cream cheese onion chip dip. (Christ, it's so bad, just typing that makes me want to go buy some and down a large bag of dipped chips.)

I feel that my eyes and my tongue are in cahoots to sabotage my health and weight-loss that I experienced last year. I've only gained 5 lbs of it back, but it looks like it's all in my belly and I hate how fat it makes me feel. Last summer I almost thought I could see a glimmer of hope; a smaller belly with the possibility of one day having a flat belly again. I almost saw definition in it. Almost.

Then I got lazy. Again. I don't feel like doing much of anything and while I wish I felt like exercising more, I just don't feel like I have the energy. Of course I blame that on all the shit I've been eating lately. AND the rum and Cokes just about every night. Why can't I stop myself? Why????????? I'm even having trouble choking down the fish oil and calcium magnesium tablets!

We moved to a 'new' (older) house this summer and bought a new gas range too, however, I can't seem to get back into the swing of cooking. For shame, it's been almost 2 months and the most action it's seen is the frying pan with bacon and then eggs cooking in it. Actually, no, the MIL came by last month with her infamous apple crisp and needed to bake it in our oven. Of course.

I'm having trouble staying satiated for long as well. I need more fat in my diet and the chicken skin (from a crockpot-roasted bird) is not enough. Today I ordered a 1-gallon tub of Nutiva coconut oil so that will help.

When I open the fridge I want to dig in to the chocolate cream pie that's in there (yes, that was my doing as well). When I have bones to put in the organics-waste bag in the freezer, I see three tubs of sugar-laden ice cream and I groan inside my mind but I close the door. I have to be in a special mood to want ice cream.

I wish I had taken a picture of the bird in the crockpot - it was a beautiful sight. I cook it breast side down and when trying to turn it over to take its temperature the luscious dear just fell right apart. God, it was good. I have one more bird to cook this way (next week; don't want to get tired of chicken) and I promise to take a picture then.

My career goal is to become a certified health & safety professional and my brain is starting to remind me that I need to practice what I preach. I don't want to be a walking contradiction. Now if only my eyes and tongue would cooperate...

Yep

I suck. lol

I'm back!

Went through a bit of a cooking funk there, where nothing really inspired me. I've also got a lot going on over here, what with my online course aaaaaaaand we're prepping the house to sell it. Mix in the hours spent looking at prospective next homes and boy oh boy, I sure don't feel like cooking.

However, I did make a beef roast recently and hey, whatdoyaknow, when you have a proper meat thermometer that you can stick into the meat and leave it there while it's in the oven, cooking isn't nearly as unpredictable!

This roast still came out a bit more done than I wanted, but now I know for next time. The veggies were a frozen mix that worked quite nicely. I'm glad I didn't have to chop all of that stuff!

Update: Deodorant / Armpit Rash

Awhile back I had made my own deodorant, which was fantastic at keeping my pits smelling divine. However, because I already had a rash from my previous store-bought stick when I switched, the baking soda in the homemade stick irritated the rash enough that it wouldn't go away. It took me awhile to figure out what to do about it, aside from using nothing and stinking. Eventually I decided to try putting a dusting of corn starch on them, and nothing else for awhile.

It worked! The rash is just about gone, and once it's completely healed I'll try the homemade stick again. Should only be another week or so to be sure.

Successful Experiment: Eggs in Bacon Baskets

Got a couple of updates for the blog today, and the first is to proudly show off our eggs-in-bacon-baskets! :D

Tonight's Dinner...Pollock Fish Soup

This was something I kind of threw together, using coconut milk, some butter, some chicken stock, a package of frozen pureed squash, and various seasonings. Plus the pollock, of course! It turned out alright, which was pleasant surprise.

Successful Experiment: Cauliflower Rice

While it wasn't perfect, it sure was tasty! It went well with the slow-cooked ribs I made in the crock pot with beef broth and pork soup broth from last week. NOM.


Once again, Mom was impressed. :)

Successful Experiment: First Time Frying in the Cast Iron Pan

For my birthday this past September I had asked my parents to buy me a cast iron frying pan, and my hopes were to become a cooking expert with this "pro" tool. (laughs) After reading many different instructions on the 'net for seasoning this thing properly, we finally decided to DO it...IN DECEMBER!

We put it through only one 'round' of seasoning and time ran out and we just haven't gotten around to continuing for 5 more rounds. I've been reading that some people also say to just start using it (provided there's no rust in the cooking area), so today that's what I decided to do.

Today is Sunday, which is bacon 'n eggs day. I got the pan out, heated it up (I also read that there are two keys to preventing food from sticking; the pan has to be hot enough, and there has to be enough fat in there), and tossed the bacon in.

Once the bacon was done (and the fat was drained once part-way through), the eggs went in. Now I was pretty nervous about the eggs, because they would be much more likely to stick, so I kept a close eye on the grease and the heat. Luckily, they didn't stick all that much and I was able to lift off what did stick. Yay!

Then when the eggs came out, I added a couple more tablespoons of bacon fat and a bunch of sliced cremini mushrooms, and tossed those around for a few minutes. YUM.

In the end, the pan is free of stuck food and the oil just needs to be dumped. Then I'll wipe it down with paper towel and it'll be ready for next time.

W00t!

Coconut Oil Used For Frying...Ok to Re-Use?

We attempted coconut shrimp for the first time last night. They didn't quite come out the way we hoped, but they were edible anyway. Here's what the oil looked like in the pan after it cooled overnight. Is this normal? Would it be okay to reuse again?


Edit: The advice received was to never re-use coconut oil after frying and the odd shapes might have been caused by the shrimp...

Almond Butter!

Decided to make this last night on a whim...wish we had some bananas to smear it on!



After scooping most of it out of the food processor I added some small pieces of Lindt 85% Ecuador chocolate and whipped that up. Mmm.

Last Night's Dinner: Slow-Cooker Pork Roast with Onions 'n Stuff

Mmmm, so juicy and the FAT...OMG *drool*


After slicing, back into the pot it went...at least until hubby was home and ready to eat!

*PRIMAL SCREAM*

What a shitty fucking day so far; absolutely nothing has gone right.

*Happy Dance*

This morning when I got on the scale (twice, to be sure) it read:

147.7!!!!!!!!!!

That bring my total weight loss to just over 18 pounds! YES!!!!!!!!! Last October I had reached 148.2 but then with xmas and all that I had gone up just a couple pounds, always hovering between 149-151. This is the lowest I've weighed in YEARS. Seeing as I'm not really working out a whole lot at this point, I'm not building muscle weight so the weigh scale does matter to me. Just for now.

Last Night's Dinner: Baked Pollock Fish with Steamed Cauliflower and Yam

Tonight's Dinner...Leftover Chicken on Cabbage and Bell Pepper

We bought a new pan!! So far so good (though I can't stand Rachel Ray her pan is nice lol). We glopped a few blobs of bacon fat in there, tossed in the chopped peppers and cabbage for awhile...


Then we added some seasoning and the leftover chicken that was in the fridge to warm it up. Et voila! Tasty!

Tonight's Dinner...Roast Beef on Mashed Cauliflower

Awesome Music: Beck and Bat for Lashes

Let's Get Lost, Beck and Bat for lashes (twilight 3)

Roast...messed another one up. :(

I try. And I'll keep on trying. Next time I'll watch it closer and take its temperature more. Or maybe I'll put the meat thermometer right in there and leave it in there. I don't know. I just hate ending up with a dry, over-cooked roast. It sucks.

Anyway, here's what it looked like. I cooked it in the oven at 250F with some water and seasonings in the bottom of the pan. The good news is that the gravy (which I reduced in a pot after it was done cooking) turned out AMAZING.




We had a big salad to go with the roast, but ended up with quite a bit left over, so this morning I cooked up some bacon and we had bacon salad for breakfast!

Foooooooood.

I've got two pork tenderloins in the crock pot, one in the oven, and a belly full of sardines (canned in olive oil).

Pics of the tenderloins to come later!

Edit: It's now later:

First, here is the oven-roasted pork tenderloin (at 250F for 2 hours) that was juicy and tasty as all hell:



This was a piece from the two tenderloins I cooked in the slow cooker (which for some reason turned out dry - overcooked, I guess?):


Served with cabbage, onion, carrot and leek.

The "Mother In-Law"

My "MIL" (in quotes because Rabbit and I are just common-law) came over yesterday (Sunday) to make dinner for us here, so she arrived with most of the fixings and got started. The main dish was going to be a hunk of roasted beef (no complaints there!), but the one side dish she brought was something she called dumplings, but it consisted of tiny little balls that resembled pasta. There were three ingredients, one of which was flour, so I wasn't too keen on eating this stuff, but I had told my honey that I was going to shut up and eat whatever she made, because it was her who previously droned on about how there's nothing wrong with eating (whole) grains, etc. I'm not interested in hearing it anymore and I'm tired of explaining myself. Anyway, she had asked what we might have on hand for sides and she chose cauliflower to go into the oven with the roast.

When the beef was done she wanted to use the drippings to make a gravy. I said we had some corn starch (I'm not sure whether this is any better than white flour, but offered it anyway), but noooo she only wanted flour. She knows darn well that I do not wish to consume flour/grains, but like I said, I shut up and ate what she made anyway. I honestly think she's trying to provide her son with these CW foods because she feels I'm depriving him. She even mentioned she'd bring ingredients to make bread next time, since my stand-up mixer came with a dough hook. *facepalm*

This must be why people don't usually get along with their in-laws, right??

When she comes over she usually brings the supplies to make her apple crumble dessert as well, and this time was no different. I had some and shut up about it.

Tomorrow I'll eat what *I* want to eat.

Awesome Music: Sloan

2011 Wish List

- Lose another 10+ lbs.

- Land a position in the Health & Safety field so I can start getting some real experience.

- Spend less time staring at a computer screen and/or sitting in chairs.

2010 was the year...

- I decided to (for the most part) go poo-less and soap-less. And made my own deodorant.

- I enrolled myself in a one-day course on being a crematorium operator (boy, was THAT ever interesting!).

- We went on our first real vacation (my first since I was 10 yrs old).

- We decided to (for the most part) eliminate sugar, grains and processed food from our diet.

- I really learned to cook, mostly by using a lot of great recipes I found on the Internet.

- I lost 16 lbs from the above diet changes, going from 166 to 150 (and holding, +/- a couple lbs).

- My mother, with the aid of a hospital stay and medication, FINALLY got her mental illness under control and is FINALLY behaving normally (she had been in a bad state for a number of years, last year being the worst in memory) which was really hard on all of us.

- We made an unprecedented move and canceled our cable (thus rendering our living room virtually abandoned).

- I hated my current job the most (especially the rude, condescending asshole clients) and really, really wanted out.

- I FINALLY chose a career path I wanted to pursue (Occupational Health & Safety) and began taking distance learning courses.