SunshineDay's Diary: 'Nothin' but Blue Skies....".

[SunshineDay]

Thanks so much for the comments, Chile, Jim and Marla -- and a-ha, so sorry to spread the virus of Pizza Craving contagion yesterday...! Yes, I know perfectly well what it's like to read about some foodstuff online and then suddenly to be unable to get it out of my head . Well i do hope at the very least that everyone who made pizza thanks to my trigger enjoyed theirs -- I'm happy to say I did! (even without a pizza stone, sadly. For now I'm stuck with two ancient, old, warped and tarnished pizza pans -- but a baking stone is definitely on my list of acquisitions, one of these days!). We left cheese off approximately 1/3 of one of the pizzas (amounting to about 3 pieces) for my benefit-- I indulged in two slices last night and never missed the dairy ....

My food update from yesterday (9/11):

B: Baked potato chopped and mixed with Bush's Vegetarian Baked Beans, chopped tomato and a little chopped raw onion and mustard.

L: More of the same

Snack: Banana. Plus a small container of vegan 'Beet Borscht'. (Background: my spouse and I did a little grocery shopping yesterday. We are on a tight budget this month, and with payday still about 4 days away, we had to be mindful. In it's own way that was probably a good thing, because foodstuffs were catching my eye in the store, that, while technically not necessarily desperately 'off-plan' (ie: some tasty-looking green grapes, etc), were things I recognized as just not needing right now, and was able to leave them be. That is until we stopped by our small local health-food co-op, and I spied the small containers of freshly-made Ukranian Beet Borscht. Well i ADORE Borscht and never having had the opportunity to try the Co-op's, I bought myself some (for a whopping $3 bucks). Heh, it's just funny that I could easily pass the various cookies and chips and whatever else -- but it was actually the Beet Borscht that proved so irresistible... (and no guilt either, because if vegan Beet Borscht is wrong, I don't wanna be right! ...)...

Dinner: 2 slices of homemade pizza -- white crust (no oil), with red sauce (a cheapie commercial brand that turned out to indeed have some oil in it -- argh, I spread it thinly), mushrooms, spinach, peppers, veggie sausage and a few olives...

Glass of orange juice....

_________________

And today's Food (9/12):

B: Last cold slice of my cheeseless portion of leftover pizza, eaten on the run as I dashed out the door to the gym this a.m....(and good that now it's all gone with no worries about Pizza Night for another week! ...)

S: Banana

L: Potatoes mixed with Bush's Vegetarian Baked Beans, chopped tomato, chopped raw onion, and a bit of mustard rolled in two corn/flour tortillas (which I found out when i got them home from shopping yesterday that they were not just corn . And here I was thinking I'd successfully avoided the flour products by not buying any pita this time around, plus choosing corn tortillas over flour tortillas. Thought I'd read the ingredients yesterday in the store, but apparently not closely enough!)....

S: More potatoes and beans (without the tortillas). Plus some home-dried apple slices (I have a freezer full of these that I processed myself last fall from apples via a friend's hobby farm. Obviously with another harvest season upon us here, we aren't going through these nearly quickly enough...)

Dinner: Not particularly hungry for dinner, but if that changes I shall dig into the leftover garden Minestrone Soup (that yes is still haunting the fridge)...

[Chile]

Hey, glad to hear you enjoyed the cheeseless pizza! It took me a while to get used to pizza without cheese, but I like it a lot now. Borscht, though, no thanks. I do like beets, however.

[Marla]

Sunshine, I know...those pesky ingredients! Every time I think I have learned my lesson, I find yet another item that I discover (too late) has oil or some other evil thing. My latest unfortunate purchase was ginger paste from the Indian grocery. I even looked at the ingredients, saw no oil, was happy, and realized after I got home that I didn't look at the sodium. 800mg in a tablespoon I had to throw it out.

Oil-free pizza/pasta sauce is really hard to find. Walnut Acres makes one that you can find at the health food store for over $4 a jar! Trader Joe's has one that is more reasonable. I gave up and now make my own.

Your menu sound really tasty. I love Borscht

[Chile]

Marla, will you post your pizza sauce recipe in the Recipe forum? I used the Trader Joe's fatfree mushroom spaghetti sauce on the last pizza and we did NOT like it! Had a very overcooked and bland taste, even after I added additional Italian seasoning.

Thanks!

[SunshineDay]

Thanks Marla and Chile, and indeed, 800 mg of sodium per tablespoon for the Indian Ginger Paste? Ay carumba! Sorry you had to throw it out, but I totally understand why. My own B.P., while normal for most of my life, has been higher than it's ever been the last few doc appointments. I'm going to see if there is any improvement with it in regards to any weight loss -- and if there isn't, I'm obviously going to have to get just as hyper-vigilant with the sodium too, in addition to everything else (cuz I'm not going on the B.P. drugs -- no way, no how ..)... And yes, I will be checking the recipe board for the spaghetti sauce recipe, if anyone has been so good as to post one -- making my own is probably the best solution, and most likely even cheaper as well (appealing to my inner penny pincher ...).

[SunshineDay]

So it is Day 15 of the Challenge, meaning I have been recommitted now for two whole weeks . And I'm glad to say so far, so good. I am currently wearing my 'barometer' jeans, the ones that wouldn't zip not so long ago. They are perfectly comfortable today. So comfy in fact, I dug out another pair of jeans (khaki denim) that hadn't seen the light of day in some time due to being just waaayyyyyy too hopelessly snug (despite supposedly being the same size as my others). Omg, over my hips they went, no problem....and... they ZIPPED! I almost couldn't believe it! I mean please, I haven't exactly been denying myself here -- yes, I've been reasonably good at sticking to approved foods, but in lumberjack quantities at times, heh. Yesterday I ate I don't know how many potatoes for example (baked them into oven wedges/fries -- so yummy). Well in any case it's all very encouraging (while I did take the khaki jeans off since there was still some amount of constriction going on, at this rate I would say they are only a week or two away from being truly comfortable ...).

Anyway, it's been a busy last couple of days for me, but I was still able to stick to plan. My biggest transgression was two days ago, when I sampled a potato chip (as in ONE) from my daughter's packed lunch. If I had it my way I wouldn't even have such things in the house -- but DH and DD, who do not have any weight or health problems, insist. Oh well. My only excuse was that it was a FOLDED BBQ kettle chip (gotta love the folded chips!). And I did only eat just one.

Yesterday I was tested again when my daughter baked some frozen french fries in the oven. I had just walked into the house from the gym around lunch time, and was greeted by that very deletable aroma. But I only ate one -- and then went on to bake up my own batch of oven baked potato wedges (using no oil. And they were so delicious in fact I might make some more today). I also baked an acorn squash at the same time since I was getting my oven going -- my first winter squash of the season, so delicious....

I also had to pack my lunch the other day, and what i came up with was really satisfying. I'd lined a container with two of the corn/flour tortillas I purchased this past weekend (they aren't all that big), and topped them with canned chili beans and chopped potato (and Vietnamese garlic-chili paste), topping this in turn with chopped lettuce, tomato and onion. To which I then added a touch of no-fat honey mustard that I picked up the other day while shopping -- as tasty to me as any dressing. This, along with a handful of home-dried apple slices, plus a banana, made for a really hearty and satisfying lunch for me while I was out of the house most of the day.... (otherwise my food for the last few days has been centered around mostly potatoes -- and I'm not tired of them yet!)...

Here is my food so far for today:

B: Leftover oven fries from yesterday. A few bites of leftover canned Mattur Paneer with brown rice, finishing it (not on plan -- but it had to be used up). A few bites of baked acorn squash. A bit of grape juice.

L: (haven't eaten it yet) Planning to finish up the garden Minestrone Soup. Plus I'm intending to make more oven-baked potato wedges...

[Chile]

Great minds think alike. Right now, I'm reading the board while my potato slices brown. I make them by slicing cooked potatoes (baked or boiled) in thirds lengthwise and browning each side until crispy on the deep baking plate of my George Foreman grill. They should be almost done ....

[SunshineDay]

Mmmmm, Chile, sounds gooooooood....here's to Potato Power!

My Food Update for today:

Lunch: I did indeed partake in the homemade leftover Minestrone Soup (to which I added the chopped up leftover skin of the acorn squash I baked yesterday), polishing it off....

S: Two Prunes

D: More baked oven fries -- a mixture of both white and sweet. Roasted beets. Steamed broccoli.

So it's thursday night yet again, which means it was my weekly stop-over at my folks to watch my favorite tv program on their cable. Happily my mom didn't have too terribly many goodies around and about to tempt me this evening, though I did end up tasting two cookies she'd made and presented to me. Not wanting to make a 'thing' of it, I took a few small nibbles, complemented her, then slipped the rest to my dog when no one was looking (not the best for my dog either I know, but happily the cookies were pretty small to begin with). Plus I also indulged in a glass of apple cider....

[SunshineDay]

It's Friday, and I'm home from my gym work out. I began with my usual treadmill walking, but after several minutes into it, I realized my knees were really beginning to ache on me, making it uncomfortable. Well, I did injure one of them years ago, plus now the other sometimes acts up as well, though they've been pretty much fine for most of the summer. But then I realized it's cloudy out today, and I also realized what time of the year it is (Fall), and that I always get sore knees in the Spring and Autumn, just like clockwork. Happens every time! Something to do with the seasonal changes in atmospheric pressure....? (and anyone who says the weather can't possibly effect joint health can go dry up as far as i'm concerned -- this is just too predictable to be mere coincidence). Anyway, I am hoping that will be yet another advantage to losing weight -- improved joint health for aging knees that wont have to work quite so hard supporting all this extra poundage (and hoping it's not too late to actually see improvement!). In any case, I stopped the treadmill and moved over to the AMT (adaptive motion trainer) -- still a good workout, but gentler on the knees....

My food so far today:

B: Leftover oven fries. One small banana. 1/2 of a piece of homemade tofu 'jerky'...

L: Leftover oven fries wrapped in a smallish corn/flour tortilla (but upon sitting here writing I'm realizing I'm still munchy, and may be digging in the fridge for something else to consume soon. Or making yet more Oven Fries.....?)

[SunshineDay]

After still feeling rather snacksy after lunch, I polished off the rest of the acorn squash (including the skin) I baked the other day (equal to about 1/4 of it), cooked and ate up some raw spinach I found in the fridge that was on the verge of going south, chasing it all with handful of baby-cut carrots dipped in honey-mustard. Maybe that will hold me for awhile ...

In other news, my wedding ring is spinning pretty freely on my finger today -- and I was just able to pull it off my finger with only a little tugging . Plus another sign some weight is coming off: I have a few small, benign sebaceous cysts on the lower part of one of my arms that popped up a number of years ago. They are totally harmless, and weren't even noticeable not long ago, hidden as they were by my excess cushioning. Well this morning while bathing I realized they are suddenly much more apparent, small little lumps right there visible under my skin. Not such a great thing to suddenly have these be so noticeable -- but oh well! Still overall a positive sign I guess, and I'll take them as they come...!

[Chile]

Caution, caution! Don't lose your wedding ring or, like me, fling it across a parking lot when brushing crumbs from your pant legs after getting out of the car, walking over, and stepping on it. It costs a few dollars to have a jeweler re-round it. It costs less to get ring adjustors at the jewelers that will keep it snugly on your finger until you get to your goal weight and can have it re-sized.

[Rosey]

Caution, caution! Don't lose your wedding ring or, like me, fling it across a parking lot when brushing crumbs from your pant legs after getting out of the car, walking over, and stepping on it. It costs a few dollars to have a jeweler re-round it. It costs less to get ring adjustors at the jewelers that will keep it snugly on your finger until you get to your goal weight and can have it re-sized.

laugh I thought that same thing when I saw you post that. Mine fell off in the kitchen a while back. Though mine is a ring you can't get resized anyway. Hubby says he's going to get me a new ring when I'm close to where I want to be.

[SunshineDay]

Ha, Chile and Rosey -- so there are actually drawback to losing weight...? Who knew?!?! Well, glad that neither of you lost your rings for good -- in my case, no worries, I've still got a loooong ways to go before I need worry about that, LOL. If in fact it could even happen at all -- can't imagine ever getting thinner than I was 20 years ago when I first started wearing it (after my major success with McDougalling the first time around...). But we'll see -- my personal motto has always been 'Never Say Never'...

My Food Update for the rest of yesterday:

S: Raw chopped salad of cabbage, onion and tomato, topped with a dressing I improvised using Vietnamese Chile Sauce, honey mustard, plus a wee smidge of crunchy peanut butter (like 1/2 tsp -- trying to get a little 'Thai' flavoring thing going there)....

D: I got caught up in an afternoon project, and by dinnertime was pretty hungry. And unprepared! I got some oven fries going, but was becoming impatient in the meantime and ate another 1/2 piece of homemade tofu jerky. I also ate a small banana. Then in my impatience I ended up nuking some potatoes -- which meant I had potatoes baking in the oven AND in the microwave, at the same time! I ate two small micro'd potatoes topped with salsa while my potato wedges baked. Then finally my oven potatoes were done -- so I ate some of those too (dipped in a combo of ketchup, honey mustard and a few shakes of Japanese ume plum vinegar). Highly satisfying!

Breakfast for me this morning will be....guess what? Indeed, I'll be soon making a bee-line for those leftover oven fries from last night....

[joyfulmother]

Found your thread - I'm following along!! I hope you have a great day.

[Chile]

Your recent menu has the old Monty Python song going through my head but instead of "spam, spam, spam....", it's "spuds, spuds, spuds..." Glad you're enjoying them so much!