The Two Cats

[kittyadventures]

Hi Kitty, Happy New Year!

Simple is often the best

Hi loves Kale. Did you have nice holiday?


Yes it is.. I had egplant vegan parmesan for dinner and it was an odd texture but it was okay taste wise. I have one more package of it to eat. but if it is teh same texture I will make my own next time LOL.

I also had two pieces of gluten free bread with low sugar strawberry jam on them. Quite yummy.


I need to sit and figure out my menues for the next few days.
I would think it will make things easier... but it involves thinking.
lor really just rearranging when i eat what on the regular plan.

[kittyadventures]

So the plan was to eat on the regular plan for a while the free 12 day program... but I haven't really got it together to do that yet so this weekend i will be preparing to start that. I noticed a few things as I was looking at the plan. Each day has one meal with a grain one with a bean for starch and one with a potato for starch.
Anyway for the weekend I will be just on auto pilot and then Monday will be the start of me on the McDougall 12 day free program.
This gives me a chance to make sure I have all teh stuff I need and pre cook my rice etc, Because Planning really is the key to success.

Down one pound for this week but it was probably more.. I got sick yesterday and my body is holding on to all the fluids... any way I feel much better today just a bit of congestion still in my ears YAY for veggie soup... It really heals when you have a cold I made a big pot of it with lots of onions collard greens green beans some corn and some sweet potato.
Yesterday I had a head ach and was congested in my chest sinuses and ears today it is just my ears. they are always the last to clear because of the mineareas.
Anyway I walked last night and intend to walk this afternoon too. I am going to try to go a full 6 miles.

In garden news I got TWO seed catalogs yesterday and I am browsing them and trying to fingure out what kind of speciallty seeds to get to grow this yearr.

I am going to be doing more trellis growing of some of my stuff like the cuccumbers in an effort to give me more room in my garden beds.

I also found these really pretty watermellons called moon and stars they are dark green skinned with white speckles all over them and one bright yellow spot. I am considering those. I have to check if they will grow in my cooler close to the coast climate.

I am also considering trying to grow some purple tomatillas and there is this really cute sweet pickling pepper plant that puts out 4 different colored peppers on one plant.

NOthing else is going on really in the garden as most every thing is in a state of stasis as it has been the coldest part of winter for us here. three more weeks of those and then it should warm up just enough for my peas to get really going good.

Hope you all are doing good too Happy Saturday.

[Gramma Jackie]

Glad you are feeling better. I am thinking about doing the 12 day plan also, but the one in the book 12 Days to Dynamic Health by Dr. McDougall, not the one on the website.

I also got 2 seed catalogs the same day. I wonder if the companies are related to each other. I just keep the Burpee one. We have underground utilities so I can only "farm" on my deck here.
I can't wait until my husband retires and we can get a yard were I can have a huge garden. Until then everything has to be in pots.

[kittyadventures]

Hi Grandma Jackie... under ground utilities should not stop you from vegetable gardening.
here is where you call

...they will come out and locate all of your lines and pipes so you know... most places are at least 3 feet deep. IF you are where there is a lot of frost like the northern states etc they are 4 to 6 feet deep to be below the frost line.
So Trees Hedges and fences might be a problem but a veggie garden should be just fine as are flowers. Hopefully they are not running all through your yard. I hope you can do a little veggie gardening.

SO Today is the official day one of the 12 day free program.
Breakfast is oatmeal and an apple

lunch is a hummus sandwich.

and dinner was supposed to be a burrito and tortilla soup but due to the fact hubby and I had mexican food yesterday I am switching dinners around so tonight is a noodle salad and vegetable stew. Which actually works out perfect as I have 2 parsnips and some squash I need to use up.

I spent forever in the grocery store yesterday shopping because I had to read labels for stuff I bought to be sure it was still Low Sodium... You would not believe how many companys label stuff low sodium and yet when you read it it has the same amount of sodium or barely less than their regular stuff.

I was shopping at Safeway so I usually get the O"organics" but I ended up getting a lot of the safeway brand low sodium stuff.
Hopefully it tastes as good as the O brand because if not I will be very disapointed LOL.

I was very fortunate and they had leeks in the store I had to look hard for them as they are not in season really so there was just a small pile of them. Hopefully i got everything LOL
I am looking forward to trying out some new recipes.

Hope you all are having a wonderful Monday!

[kittyadventures]

Tuesday! Day 2

IF you are interested in the recipes Click Here

I got on the scale this morning and WOO HOOO!!! I am back to 170 Lbs.. (Lost 2 lbs yesterday) so that means that extra weight I thought was from eating some extra holiday goodies was really mostly from getting my cold..

so i am a happy camper this morning.. with the hope that by Friday I am down to 169 or 168 which was where I started before the holidays.

yesterday I ended up just having potatoes for dinner. I was too hungry by far when I got home and so I just ate potatoes rather than cooking soup and burritos. other than that I did great

Todays menu is a barbeque sauce potato sadwich for breakfast and I have to say it was really really yummy. I didn't have a yukon gold potato so I used a russet and my bread was of course gluten free so it was smaller so I stacked a whole potato between the two slices of bread. with bbq sauce spread on the bread.
For the potato I microwaved it for 2 minutes peeled it and then sliced it into 4 long slices and put those into a heated on low cast iron skillet put a lid on it and left it sitting for about 5 minutes came back turned the potatoes over and cooked for about 2 more minutes turned off the heat and left it sitting in the pan to finish browning until I was ready for my sandwich.

IT was very satisfying and now I am having a spot of herbal tea to make sure my tummy is full.

Lunch is the tricolor bean salad over a bed of lettuce.

dinner is harvest soup and confetti rice.

I already cooked the rice this morning and it is finishing cooking on the counter. This works at sea level but I don't know if it works at higher elevations
I bring my rice and water to a boil.. It must be fully boiling so be sure you let it boil for a minute or two .
I take it off the heat and wrap it in a towel and let it sit on the counter until it is done cooking or in this case until I get home tonight.
IT makes perfect brown rice and I never burn it that way.

anyway I am looking forward to the soup and rice tonight. I did a variation on the rice a week ago and it was okay but tonight I am going to be following the recipe.

We are having some lovely weather right now ... clear days blue skies but we really really need it to rain. I hope it does soon otherwise we are heading into a drought year. Which sucks.

A link to the recipes is at the top of this post.

[kittyadventures]

Wednesday Day 3
I ended up being completly off menu as far as what I was eating but it was McDougall friendly.
B: Oatmeal and fruit
L: soft corn shell tacos filled was the tricolor bean salad heated up D: more tri color beans but with some low fat low salt chips. THey were pedrino brand chips... I only had a few of these as I was still mostly full from lunch but I didn't want to get hungry later on so I had a sdmall dinner..

ANd unfortunately my day went totally awry yesterday so I didn't get to go on here.

Day 4
I am now slightly out of sequence on the menues.
so this is the day 3 menues in the program
Link to recipes Here
I will be skipping over day 4 of the free program. This seemed like the best solution to getting out of order yesterday because the menu for day 4 repeats later in the week anyway.

B: oatmeal and an apple (Sonya Apple)
L: Himalayan Curried soup
D: Curly pasta salad, Hearty Brazilian bean soup


The pasta salad tasts yummy so far( I haven't added the pasta yet LOL) I may need to add more dressing I just made a little because I cut the recipe down to feed 2 people instead of 6 to 8 .

Also the tricolor bean salad is awesome hot or cold. and made a delicious taco/burrito filling.

I will let you know about the curried soup.

[Gramma Jackie]

Hi Grandma Jackie... under ground utilities should not stop you from vegetable gardening.
here is where you call

...they will come out and locate all of your lines and pipes so you know... most places are at least 3 feet deep. IF you are where there is a lot of frost like the northern states etc they are 4 to 6 feet deep to be below the frost line.
So Trees Hedges and fences might be a problem but a veggie garden should be just fine as are flowers. Hopefully they are not running all through your yard. I hope you can do a little veggie gardening.

SO Today is the official day one of the 12 day free program.
Breakfast is oatmeal and an apple

lunch is a hummus sandwich.

and dinner was supposed to be a burrito and tortilla soup but due to the fact hubby and I had mexican food yesterday I am switching dinners around so tonight is a noodle salad and vegetable stew. Which actually works out perfect as I have 2 parsnips and some squash I need to use up.

I spent forever in the grocery store yesterday shopping because I had to read labels for stuff I bought to be sure it was still Low Sodium... You would not believe how many companys label stuff low sodium and yet when you read it it has the same amount of sodium or barely less than their regular stuff.

I was shopping at Safeway so I usually get the O"organics" but I ended up getting a lot of the safeway brand low sodium stuff.
Hopefully it tastes as good as the O brand because if not I will be very disapointed LOL.

I was very fortunate and they had leeks in the store I had to look hard for them as they are not in season really so there was just a small pile of them. Hopefully i got everything LOL
I am looking forward to trying out some new recipes.

Hope you all are having a wonderful Monday!

Yes we called and had out the utilities identified with spray paint. We made the choice to plant fruit trees. There isn't enough room to plant a garden now. I usually grow a few pots of tomatoes, peppers and herbs. My daughter has a big vegetable garden however. So we can still get fresh veggies.

[kittyadventures]

Just stopped back in tonight to say i love the noodle salad and the brazillian bean soup is very hearty indeed. I even used some of the swiss chard from my garden for the soup. I have enough left over for at least one more meal so I am going to throw it in teh freezer.

Funny thing is hubby has had 2 vegetarian meals in a row now dinner last night and dinner tonight LOLOL.

I did offer to cook some meat for him but he was happy with what I made for me.

Maybe one day I will get him mcdougalling.

[kittyadventures]

Okay i had to post one more thing .. I wanted a snack while i was working at the hospital doing data entry this afternoon... and I was at the store looking at all the chips and popcorn and reading the backs and figuring out how many calories it was going to end up being if I bought the snacks these were the low-fat ones .. I thought how silly to buy one of these things when I can just go to the produce section and get some grapes or fruit.. while I was there I noticed there were some lovely blueberries from Chili so I bought those instead and munched happily on them all afternoon. best of all I think I ate just over a cup of blue berries..

And I feel really good about myself... and even better I bet that was less calories than one serving of chips or popcorn.

[Loveskale]

Hey Kitty! Good for you for choosing fruit over the higher calorie stuff! Blueberries are the best!

[kittyadventures]

Hi Loveskale Thank you.
IT was a funny change to my thinking.

I think like a SAD eater... that I owe these treats to myself..
and it is like my brain did some kind of switch in the last few days. Suddenly I feel more like I owe it to myself to eat the whole fruits and veggies.
I owe it to myself to eat the healthy stuff.


The SAD stuff is doing me no favors.


So today I am having left over brazilian bean soup for breakfast and an apple. I know I said I was going to freeze it but I decided I wanted it for breakfast.

Lunch is a sweet sandwhich, which is Kidney beans mixed with onion and pickles on Gluten free bread with lettuce and tomatoes.

The filling tastes yummy so hopefully I like it on a sandwich.

Dinner is Minestroni soup... But I want to use red potatoes instead of noodles what do you guys think? Is that too weird?

According to the day five menu there are also peppered noodles with it but I decided just now to have the soup and a corn bread muffin with it instead of the noodles.

[kittyadventures]

Todays meal. My most favorite breakfast which is apple(red delicious today ) and a bowl of oatmeal. Yummmmm!!!!!!!!

I am supposed to be having chipstacks for lunch i may do this with some potatoes instead. I was too full from lunch yesterday so i just had some toast for dinner. But i am not going to do that anymore i am gonna try to stick with the plan.

LOL apparently i suck at following plans.

Anyway today is supposed to be bkfst tortillas which i am not having and lunch is chip stacks .. Kind of like. A vegan version of nachos bell Grande minus the bad stuffs. Dinner is supposed to be pagoda rice salad, grilled mushroom steaks and grilled potatoes.

If we are home this is what i will eat if we are away i will eat either salad or veggies and baked potato.

This morning involves a visit to my garden to water and see how things are doing. Happy weekemd warrioring.

[kittyadventures]

http://www.drmcdougall.com/free_5g.html

In case you wanted the link to day sixes menues

[kittyadventures]

okay I ended up having an upset tummy (Major gas and bloating) from lunch, I had tried a new kind of refried beans(Amys) It had lower salt than my usual ones but it had more fat..
anyway I think the fat from the beans plus the fat from the chips even though they were low fat was just too much.. needless to say I will go back to my usual non fat refried beans even if they do have more salt.
Cansequently... I ended up just haing potato for dinner and am still a bit unsettled this morning so for breakfast I made a rice dish instead of the country french toast on the menu... I will be trying it out next weekend I think.


anyway breakfast is a new dish i jjust made up

serving for one

Heat heavy frying pan on LOW.
Chop 2 stalks of celery into small pieces and throw in skillet.
Mince 1/4 of a yellow onion. and add to skillet stir together with the celery. Then rough chop 5 0r 6 mushrooms into 1/4 to 1/3 inch chunks and add to skillet give a good stir. stir occasionally till it the onions are translucent cook longer if you want your celery more done .. I like mine still a bit crunchy.
While that is heating through peal 2 tangerines and seperate teh segments then cut each segment into thirds.

Add the tangerine chunks and 1 cup of cooked brown rice to the pan. stir occasionally until the rice is heated through. about 3 minutes.
Serve and enjoy.

Lunch is supposed to be bean sandwhiches but I have left over kidney bean sandwich mix so I will use that if I make sandwhiches.

IT will depend a bit on my tummy... if it is still upset I will be having more rice.

Dinner is farmhouse salad and spagetti Maranara.


okay and I want to share one of the things doing teh regualr Mc dougall plan has really brought home to me is that I have not been eating enough starch. Really I have been holding onto that whole starch makes you fat conversation in my head and it really is not true.

anyway here is the link to day 7 of the meal plan.
http://www.drmcdougall.com/free_5h.html


On to more interesting and fun stuff. LOL.
Oddly enough something has sprouted in one of my beds and I have no idea what it is. I suspect it is either a stray pea or possibly a sunflower taht the birds dropped from our bird feeder nearby.
also in one of the other beds teh carrots sprouted which is a surprise as that ground is brrrr really cold even under teh plastic. maybe during the day it is getting warmed up enough.

I weeded the beds and am having high hopes for them. i may need to reseed once things warm up a bit next month ... we will see.

For anyone interested these are the two garden supply places I am going to order from

http://www.groworganic.com They are Peacefull Valley farm and garden supply and are located right here in Northern California. They have tons of how to videos and tehy are really awesome.

They other place I will be ordering stuff from is
http://www.mypatriotsupply.com/
My Patriot supply. This is a small company also they have lots of books on gardening and homesteading they also have survival/camping supplies. lots of heirloom seeds for herbs and vegetables and they also sell the Tattler reusable canning supplies.


I am reviewing the seeds I have and making my list so I can order this week.

Okay off to garden and clean.

[kittyadventures]

Dayt Eight.

I had Oatmeal for breakfast and an apple
and I am having salad bar for lunch with kidney beans for my starch.

I have no idea what is supposed to be for dinner lOL will check back in later with that info.

At work Buried under a sea of paper work.