Discussion Board

Hi Jaykay,
If you’re looking for easy, I got your easy. I use a Zojirushi rice cooker. The beauty of this baby is that it has a timer and a warming feature. I can fill up the cooker with rice and water before I go to bed and set the timer to have my brown jasmine rice done at 6am. It will keep the rice warm and moist all day long so I can have rice at 7am, noon, 4pm, and 8pm just by going to the rice cooker and filling up a bowl. Right now I’m doing Mary’s Mini and my meals consist of rice and pre-washed lettuce which is a little too extreme for most folks but each meal has a prep time of under 2 minutes. Before bed, I clean the rice cooker, fill it up and set the timer again. Easy breezy.

Last year I lost 150 last year following the MWL plan and I have a blog full of recipes that I liked.

http://mwlfood.wordpress.com/

My favorite thing to do was make an enormous pot of soup or stew and then eat it with a scoop of rice morning, noon, and night for 4 or 5 days in a row. Just keep trying. You’ll find what works for you.
Best wishes,
Letha

What an inspiring story. We all need to be reminded sometimes to just keep doing it. I like your "recipe" and will probably do it sometime as I find I am now wanting to simplify my meals a bit. Please continue posting as it helps us all.

Mike, I sort of used your recipe the other night. I made a pot of mashed potatoes and plopped some cut up broccoli on top along with a couple cloves of garlic. We love garlic and I usually do put it in mashed potatoes in some form.

So, the verdict was they couldn't really taste the broccoli but The Meat Eater really doesn't like green in his mashed potatoes! Ha ha. With gravy on top he didn't care much though, so this is a new feature in our house.

I might try adding dry garlic powder next time, rather than the whole cloves, and put some minced onion in before mashing. That is something I usually do.

Hi Mrs. D! GARLIC! never thought of that. I love it too. Thanks for solving my 'what's for dinner' today!

Mike, have you ever tried the gravy recipe? On this thread: http://drmcdougall.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=13251

someone posted this gravy recipe from this site:

http://happyherbivore.com/2009/07/vegan-brown-gravy/

I've made it in "beast" and "chikn" flavors and we love it.

Mr. D makes Dad Certified Mashed Potatoes and he uses red potatoes, hazelnut milk and minced onion and way too much black pepper. The boys love them, but the Mom Potatoes need gravy.

Mike-

I am new to McDougalling, but it is people like you and so many others on this post that keep me motivated and honest. I admire the courage and conviction it took to make you a true "Star"!

Thank you for sharing your story, that sounds so much like mine. You are an inspiration......

Amy

Mike,

I also sort of made your potato/broccoli mixture last night. I didn't have any right food cups in the house though.

The potatoes needed some flavoring (I didn't want to use gravy this time). So, if you can clarify, the cups are for the flavoring? I bought the minestrone to have with dinner to try and I liked it.

Thanks

Mrs. Doodlepunk: Made the Brown Gravy last night. AWESOME!!! Thanks! I feel like I'm living a dream. Mashed potatoes and gravy AND it's OK to eat them. Somebody call the reality police!
Hi sigma957: Yes, I use them for flavor but they are also good to kinda 'bind' the mixture together a bit while baking. When I use the minestroni I use a little less water than the directions call for. With the rice and pasta I let it sit for at least a half hour before adding it. Fluffs up a lot more.
amyla51 THANKS! The kind words from you and everyone elsee here will always be treasured by me. I've told Dr. John many times about the gold mine we have here on these boards. Most will agree that these BB members are the nicest, most respectful, and encouraging to be found ANYWHERE on the internet.

Mike: Isn't that gravy something? I just want to roll in it. Made it the other night with chik'n flavor and that was good too. I no longer bother toasting the mixture in the beginning, since I use corn starch anyway. Once in a while I ended up with an odd flavor and think it was the corn starch not liking to be toasted.

Sigma: Have you tried adding some finely minced onion to your potatoes? I drain my boiled potatoes, dump in the onion on top, and put the lid back on and let the pot sit off the heat to sort of lightly steam the onion. Then mash it all together, put in a light dusting of garlic powder and some hazelnut milk OR chik'n broth.

Mike, isn't this lifestyle great? One of my all time favorite food is mashed potatoes, corn (regular not creamed) and gravy. And I can eat it now, as much as I want.

Mrs Doodlepunk, I do put in garlic sometimes but usually use onion powder instead of onions. If you'd like a different taste, try shallots. They add a wonderful flavor to just about any dish where onions would be used.

Do you cook the shallots or put them in raw? I have had them before but it's been a long time. We'll have to give them a try! Thanks!

Treat shallots like onions. I prefer them water sauted then added to whatever food I'm making.

Mike,

Maybe I missed it somewhere, I hope this is not a repeat...But I'm curious to know how much you exercised when you first started your journey and how much you currently exercise?

Thank you, your such an inspiration

Thanks for the kind words. I KNOW I SHOULD exercise more but I don't. I have to admit that I never really exercised at all during MWL. Maybe just a little more walking than usual but hardly.

Thanks for responding. I think it just goes to show that you don't have to exercise and lose weight. Not saying a person shouldn't exercise but I'm just saying sometimes I don't like too.. I was listening to T. Colin campbell and he recommends 15 minutes to 45 minutes daily. I think I can do 15 minutes, lol....Thanks for sharing, such an inspiration