In my quest to get us all back on plan and keep us there, I worked up a couple of lbs of ground meat tonight. I made a batch of oven-fried meatballs and a new batch of ground meat for Asian Lettuce Wraps. I will be adding both recipes here on my blog. I have decided with mom's health being what it is, I will simply start "double cooking" for a while. I'll take out double the meat and cook and/ or prep too meals at one time.

I now have three meals cooked and ready to finish off this week, plus chicken thawing for two more. If I can do this every week, we won't have to rely on "take out" every time I'm not up to cooking. Mom does not need to be dealing with dinner, at least until it cools down. The heat really gets too her and right now she needs to be taking care of her. Weight is an issue with her getting the surgery, so I want to make it as easy as I can for her to lose weight and stay as healthy as possible.

On the menu this week:

• Pot roast
• Meatball salad with tons of veggies
• Asian Lettuce wraps with toasted cashews
• LC chicken Cordon Bleu ( if it works will post recipe)
• Mexicali Chicken or Chicken strips
• Pork Roast
• BBQ roll ups

Now let's see if I can get it all done. I hope that cooking once, eating twice will work for me and cut down on the amount of cooking I have to do. I'm not at my best right now, sleeping pattern is all off again too. But I definitely want to work to keep cooking dinner from falling on mom. If I can have it ready for the oven or to reheat quickly on the stove, then she will not have to put any more stress on her breathing trying to cook a full meal.

Funny the things that can make changes to the way you cook. Life; it's always an adventure.

Just a quick not to let you all know I had a much better night last night ( ok afternoon) I only slept about 5.5 hours but they were good hours so that's what counts at this point.

Second, I did well sticking with my low carb plan as well. For breakfast, I had eggs, but with zucchini, spinach and a little onion sautéed along with a crumbled up left over burger all scrambled together. It was tres bien. For lunch, I had a bacon burger (sans bun) with a small salad (lettuce, tomato, cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms, cucumber, and cheese with ranch dressing. I like to cut the burger up in the salad and just mix it all together. I was so fresh, clean, and yummy!

Dinner was stuffed meatloaf, with sautéed yellow squash. Yes, I know that was a bunch of burger for one day. Just call it lack of planning a huge no-no and not thinking ahead. Nevertheless, I don't think other than the large amount of ground beef it was too bad. Not too much cheese, plenty of fresh veggies and I didn't snack all day long, that's for sure. My meals were very filling and satisfying. I drank mostly iced tea sweetened with a mix of Stevia and Splenda. I did drink Diet coke with Splenda later in the day.

Anyway, over all I think it was a good day. Now if I can just get my laundry done, my basket is piled about 3 foot in the air. Not a good thing at all.

If you are in the least bit interested in a low carb lifestyle you should have Jimmy Moore's Livin' La Vida Low-Carb™ Blog at the top of your blog lines or like me on your homepage. 

If your a faithful reader of his wonderfully entertaining and informative blog they you know he often pays it forward by giving a nod to other low carb blogs, especially new bloggers that are trying to find their way through the low carb journey.  Saturday he published an article called Another 33 Fabulously Fun Low-Carb Blogs and guess who was one of the 33? No other than yours truly!  Talk about exciting.  Jimmy Moore is like the guru of low carb, to get a nod from him is way way cool.

THANKS JIMMY!!!!

I went from an average of about 35 views a day to over 300 yesterday.  Now does that tell you what a nod from Jimmy can do.  If you haven't read what he has to say, I really do suggest you follow one of the links above to do just that.  And check out the other 32 fabulous blogs, you just might learn something you important to help you on your low carb journey.

So much going on lately not to mention that I'm having computer issues.   I just wanted to let you know I haven't disappeared.  I'll be back when I can. 

I have a new recipe for Salisbury steak  I need to post.  I have a new salad I want to try using roasted frozen veggies.  Not sure it will work, but fresh are getting so expensive I want to see if I can work more with frozen.

Also, I know how high in carbs carrots are, but I have been so hungry for lemon honey carrots that I'm going to make a few, I'm trying to think of something I can add like maybe jicama if I can find one.  It needs to be low carb and crunchy.

I have a few other things in mind that I want to try.  So I will keep you updated on what actually works.

Have a lovely week everyone.

To anyone that has been keeping up with my page, I'm sorry I've gotten a little behind. Between  being sick and trying to get things ready for mom's surgery, my time for keeping up with my posts has been down sized big time.  But I haven't abandoned my page.  It's just not getting the attention it so richly deserves.  But I'm still low carbing, I'm still cooking and coming up with new recipes. 

I made Sour cream chicken enchilada casserole for dinner tonight and forgot to take pictures.  Oh well I guess I can post without the pictures. 

I hope that anyone coming across this page with say a quick little prayer that they will get on with mom's surgery.  It's getting harder and harder for her to breath.  I just want him to get in there and replace the silly valve so she will have her life back.  We're all so  tired of waiting only to wait some more. 

This is Cindy's first week on medical leave trying to get her feet and legs fixed before she has to go back to work.  She's started walking every morning, I'm so proud of her, I know how badly that hurts her poor footsies but she's sticking with it.

All and all with me running back and forth from the doctor this week, mom's appt with Dr. D and all the cooking and cleaning going on, I've been really busy.  So I hope to get back to it on a steady basis again this next week. If my leg cooperates.

I made up white chocolate walnut flax bread and a batch of blueberry orange.  I want to get as much made up and in the freezer as possible before it gets to hot.  But that may be too late.

It's spring and  for me it's back to the beginning. After about a month of struggling and falling off the wagon, I've finally gotten a hold of myself.  With everything that's been going on and the terrible depression I went through I've let myself get way off base and the scale isn't my friend just at the moment.  So today I have rededicated myself to my low carb lifestyle. 

I'm starting Induction, sort of. I just can't limit myself on which veggies I can and can't have.  I'm just not ready to give up tomatoes even for a couple of weeks.  Truth is I've never done Atkin's Induction and I've still done pretty good for myself.  So I am doing my version of induction.  I keep my carb count below 25 aiming for 20, and I limit cheese and nuts to one serving a day if possible. But I allow myself any non-starchy veggie I want. 

Also, a week is usually all it takes to get my body in to the swing of things.  If I were just learning about low carb I would definitely start with Atkin's Induction,  I think it's important to help you not only jump start your body into burning fat for energy, but it also helps set good eating habits. But I've been there, done that as they say.  I already know how to make good choices.

Ok, so I've been making some crappy choices.  But the fact is they were CHOICES.  I knew they weren't what I should be eating.  I knew what the carbs were doing to my body.  I knew I was gaining weight.  I knew the reason I was feeling so awful was from Carb poisoning.  I knew and yet I still chose the poison because it was easier.  It was easier to pick up junk than to cook good, healthy wonderful tasting foods.  Instead I was choosing too many poisonous, unhealthy and frankly not that great tasting foods. 

Why?  Well at first, I was in this really bad place and I think more than anything I just wanted to hurt myself.  I wanted to rebel against the things I knew were good for me and frankly I was just to tired to fight myself any more.  so I just simply gave in to what was the easiest thing to do.  STUPID but none the less human.  I've always been self sabotaging.  I do actually know why, it's something I have fought all my life.  It's why I am fat. 

When I was little I was sexually abused.  I remember thinking as I was growing up, "if I'm fat boys will not like me".  It's a battle I have had with myself my entire life.  Wanting to lose weight so Guys would like me and using it as a tool to keep them away. 

Oh I have found  quite a wonderful crutch to keep me from so many things over the course of my life.  It's so much easier to say I'm to fat to do this or that, than it is to actually try it and risk failure or being hurt. 

All the while part of me wanted nothing more in life than to be thin and healthy.  Have a normal life. Get married and have my own babies.  Another part simply found it easier and safer to hide behind the fat.

It's a hard truth, but I've never been able to lie to myself.  On some levels I've always known it.  But I've been fully aware of it most of my adult life.  It's just not something I have ever been able to over come.  Well I'm tired of hiding.  I want to have a life before it's too late.  And yes, I know it's not that easy.  All that garbage runs really deep.  It's not going to go away over night.  I've got just as big a fight on my hands as I have ever had. 

But I think I'm ready for the fight.   I know darn good and well this isn't the last time I will sabotage myself.  The difference is this time I'm not going to let this bump ok it's a big bump, but I'm not going to allow it to stop me.  I'm not using the mess up as an excuse.  I can change, I will change and I know it's not going to happen over night.

So that's my story.  I feel better for having been honest about it.  And I feel better knowing that in some ways I've already changed.  I've admitted to some pretty personal stuff here.  Things I have never really told anyone in my life.  

I'm not just throwing in the towel after this mistake. Because that's what it is a mistake, not the end of the world.

I've learned I can actually keep right on going.  All I have to do is get myself back on track.  Easy breezy!  Honestly it is.  Because of all my wonderful friends at About.com low carb forum I have been eating this way for a whole year!!!!!! 

I've made mistakes, some little some whoppers ( this isn't the first one) but in that year a lot of things have changed.  For one I KNOW what foods are good for me.  I know which foods work for me, and which ones don't.  I have already formed the habits of grabbing nutritious foods instead of junk.  I have a ton of recipes already in place, I know which ones we like and which ones that don't.  In other words I have lots of good experience behind me. 

I'm simply going to just keep on with what I've been doing.  Keeping it a little tighter for a while...giggle.  Thanks for listening (reading).

I don't have much to say really, just wanted to check in and say we're all hanging in.  Mom's cough is still awful, but she seems to feel a little better.  I've not been doing well sticking to my low carb life-style lately so I need to rev that back up.

 

All and all I seem to be in a waiting pattern.  Not a particularly happy place to be.  I've just got to kick myself out of that and continue to move on.  Waiting for the surgery or the tests isn't going to make them happen any faster, and in the mean time  I've let myself waste time. That's never a good thing.

 

So my vow is tomorrow life starts in this family again.  No matter what anyone feels like.  It's back into the world of the living. There are meals to be cooked, and snacks to get made.  Bills to be paid and people to check in with.  Laundry has to be done and a house that needs cleaning.  Dirt doesn't stop just because your waiting.  That's for darn sure.

 

 I simply have to find a way to get rid of these dad-gum ANTS!!!!  I know it's the same every year.  Spring brings the rain, and the rain bring the ants into my kitchen.  I HATE IT!  And those awful water bugs.  I swear some of them are the size of mice.... ewwwwww I don't even want to think about that. 

 

Spring brings with it many wonderful things.  The smell of fresh cut grass, spring showers and fresh herbs.  It brings color back to our lives, after the long dreary winter grays.  We welcome it with open arms.  We ready for the sun to warm our skin and the dark cockles of our spirits.  But it also brings with it, new creepy crawly things.  As the rain drenches the yard outside all those creepy crawly things seek refuse in my house.  So far this spring, we are sharing our roof with spiders, ants and those mutant water bugs.  It's enough to make you want to run screaming into the the sunshine, leaving the house to the varmints. 

 

So the spray comes out, the ant traps are placed, all in the hopes of regaining control of our house.  So far the last two days seems to be a victory for our team.  Well. except for the spiders.  But soon enough the flies and mesquites will be coming a calling, not to mention when the city decides to mow the nearby fields all those nasty ( gulp back the nausea) furry little field mice.  Oh lordy how  I hate to even think about those.  But I  know it's only a  matter of time.  I have the exterminator on speed dial and the mouse traps ready.  This is the part of spring now one ever wants to talk about.  But it's part of the new life that comes with the returning sun.  It's just the creepy part.

 

Well I guess I had more to talk about than I thought.  I hope your all doing well and that your varmint control is under way.  Or perhaps you don't live where there is enough open spaces to bred all these nasty little critters.  If so your very lucky.  But if like me your battling Ants.  Be strong, be brave and above all be the one with the bug spray at the ready!

 

It was another night in the house of phlegm.  Not much change in here.   The resident mucus monsters were still hacking and coughing and expelling phlegm right and left.  That's suppose to be a good thing right?   Neither has much of an appetite either so finding something they will actually eat isn't an easy task.

 

But come bed time they both wheezed their way to their rooms leaving me with the other walking talkie and piece and quite. Aww you might ask yourself. What did she do with all that lovely quiet and a house to herself.

 

I will tell  you what she did, she set to work immediately.  First, the roast was put on to braise.  Then the kitchen was cleaned from top to bottom.  Laundry was set into motion, and meatloaves were assembled.  The dishwasher was put to the test with a full load of dirty cookware, would it be up to the challenge? I say it was.  Those dishes were then put snugly away into their cozy cupboards, while yet more dirty dishes seem to come from everywhere just to take a turn in magically cleaning machine. Oopsie was mixed and placed in the oven, even as the dryer buzzed that there were cloths to be folded.

 

Now that she had room to work and time on her hands she was determined to get as much done as possible.  She placed meatloaves in the fridge for tomorrow and 3 more in the freezer for another day.  But what's this she spies? Chicken? Yes a lovely bag of Teriyaki dump chicken.  So in the house it goes and into a sink of warm water to start it to thawing.  There is tea made and tea drank, vinegar water prepared as well. Then on to the living room. Vacuuming is out for she didn't want to wake the sleeping germ machines so the hokey will have to do. Lysol filled the air as the furniture was sprayed, dust took flight as the tables were dusted. Things were put away and kleenix boxes replaced. Remotes found their home as did mail and other things lying about.

She decided that though the other beds could not be had, her own could be stripped and the bed clothes laundered.  So off to the laundry room go sheets and shams, comforters and pillow cases.  Into the washer with soap and some bleach, killing any germs that were bold enough to have ventured that far.

 

Onions and peppers were cleaned and then chopped. A carrot found  it's way on to the cutting board as well.  Into the crock pot the veggies were placed, all seasoned with salt and fresh ground pepper.  Then topped off with the thawed chicken, the marinade going down the drain. She quickly mixes up an other sauce to poor over and then the lid. 

 

Tonight was a good night.  She was able to accomplish a great deal.  So she set back and put her feet up, and decided to write about her accomphisments of the night.

I worked on a few things I need to get done, mainly paying bills... Ick. Then I got hungry again.  So there it was 3:30 in the morning, Cindy asleep in the living room and me hungry.  So I quietly slipped in the kitchen turning on minimal lights.  Hmmm what to eat.  I have a couple  of oopsies left.... interesting, and there is this left over taco meat.   And so was born Oopsimexalious.  And I might add it was absolutely delish! I only hope Jamie/Cleo doesn't hate me for stealing one of her cute names.  I took pics but there is no recipe since it's really just my Tostado recipe on a oopsie.  I decided to leave off the sour cream since the oopsie has cream cheese in it.  So that's my day so far.  Maybe I will actually sleep sometime today.  My next quest.  Oopsie hot dog buns for my next chili cheese dog.  Awww life is low carb good!

Update: Mom and Cindy have both ended up at the emergency room.  Cindy just called (4:15) they are doing chest x-rays on mom, but I'm afraid they are in for a long wait.  Apparently it's pretty full and the other hospital is having to send them thier overflow.  I hope they make it before it gets too late.