Carrot Cake and Ice cream

Friday June 27, 2008 Phase Two Day 67:
Walking with friends is a great way to start the day. Cantaloupe and cottage cheese for breakfast and supplements got my morning started. I knew I would be going into the office today so I made a small carrot cake to take for my office friends. Actually, I made two, one to take to the Pritchett’s and one for the office. I continue to experiment with the recipe and this time I think it is perfect. I used one carrot cake mix, one can pumpkin, one small can crushed pineapple (drained), 2 eggs, ¾ cup water and 1 cup each: raisins, walnuts, coconut. Top with cream cheese frosting and nuts.

My morning was busy and by the time I arrived at the office at 1:30, I had still not eaten anything more than breakfast. Although I was bringing a surprise treat, when I got there Phyllis surprised me. She said she knew I was coming in today and so she picked up a chocolate pie from Marie Callenders. That was so nice. Well, we put both goodies out in the lunchroom and invited everyone to come and join us. I probably would have had a piece of my carrot cake anyway because I wanted to sample the recipe, but I did not plan on a piece of pie also. They both were delicious.

So with two desserts for lunch I was on the road to dinner. Stephen & I went out to take in dinner and a movie. I suggested dinner at Chili’s because of the wonderful salad I had there earlier this week when Sonnet & I were with Sara & Blake. It was another delicious chicken salad. Now I don’t know if it was because I had had the desserts and was in dessert mode or what, but I decided to order one of the featured treats from the menu. It was a small – and I mean small, shot glass with fudge and a piece of brownie. I added a scoop of vanilla ice cream to it. While very cute in presentation, it lacked in taste. I did not finish the ice cream. Now we were off to the show. Wouldn’t you know it we received a free popcorn with our ticket purchase. You do not have to redeem the coupon but of course we did. The final break down was on the way home I asked Stephen to stop at Rite Aid because I wanted an ice cream cone. Remember when I told you about going to the chocolate shop for a treat, ordering sugar free chocolate in an effort to ‘be good’, then being so disappointed with it going back and ordering the real stuff? Well I think that is what happened here. At dinner I wanted a dessert and when I got that pathetic little offering they dished up I was unsatisfied. An argument could be made that with a piece of pie and a piece of carrot cake already consumed, how could I feel unsatisfied, but I do not like to argue so we will ignore that little detail.

Saturday June 28, 2008 Phase Two Day 68:
Getting up at 8:20 feels so good sometimes. Stephen was up and gone for a bike ride at 6:30. Did I mention that he did not have an ice cream last night? Well done him. During phase two, I&N let you add new food back into your diet one item at a time and only one new item a week. This is to let you see how the food item affects your system and weight. When introducing wheat I dove in very fast. The crackers I like are so good and I began eating them every day. I think they plugged me up a bit but I am trying to counter balance that with fruit. I need to make sure I am eating enough green leafy every day. It becomes easy to reach for crackers and tuna instead of a salad.

Stephen just called to have me pick him. He had a nasty fall 38 miles into his ride. He is bloody and scraped but not broken. When he is out of the shower I will fix bacon and eggs with fruit for breakfast……Yummy breakfast but boy is Steph banged up. He has pretty good road rash and a huge goose egg the size of a cantaloupe on his hip.

Busy at the computer all day so I grabbed three crackers with turkey and cheese as a quick lunch. For dinner I fixed a big salad with egg, cheese, tomatoes and grilled chicken. I had an avocado so I combined it with some ranch dressing, a hint of lime and green taco sauce. It made a very zesty dressing. We sat down to watch a movie and I enjoyed a peach smoothie. I topped the evening off with the last piece of my carrot cake.
No real exercise today.

Sunday June 29, 2008 Phase Two Day 69:
Took so long getting ready this morning that I didn’t have time for breakfast – a no-no. Church was wonderful. Stephen spoke in a combined Relief Society, Priesthood, Young Men & Young Women third hour. He is a good Bishop. His bandaged were oozing and will have to ne redressed. Poor guy, he is very sore.

When I got home I had crackers and turkey with cheese. When Stephen arrived, I made him some also and had a second helping myself. We laid down for a wonderful nap. This evening, I can’t remember how it came up, we were talking about fried green tomatoes. We decided to go to the kitchen to experiment. I had a big beefsteak tomato that fried up beautifully. Actually it was smooshie on the inside and we determined to prevent smooshiness ‘green’ tomatoes were necessary. Ripe red ones just were not the same. Steph thought eggs, bacon and fried tomatoes sounded like a good dinner. I only had a couple pieces of bacon, a bit if tomato just to see what it tasted like and a couple pieces of cantaloupe.

Sonnet is gone so I did not get in a walk. Just as a side note; I hop on the scale most mornings. I only record on Tuesday but I usually have and idea how I am doing. For some reason I am up a few pounds. Maybe it has to do with the wheat, not sure. I will see what the next few days brings.

Monday June 30, 2008 Phase Two Day 70:
Good morning! The alarm went off at 5:00 to signal it was time for us to get up and remove Stephens bandages. They came off pretty well. He was worried there would be dried spots that would need to soak off – so far so good. He showered and we redressed the wounds. He is stiff this morning.

I had a few bites of cantaloupe then hurried out the door to walk with friends. When I got back it was time to plant the pumpkin starts I received yesterday at church. It seems we are having a pumpkin contest at our ward fall social and everyone was given starts to plant for the contest. Should be fun. Just worked around the house this morning. For breakfast I ate more cantaloupe with cottage cheese. Lunch was tuna & crackers.

I am off to run errands and am going to stop by the store to get the ingredients for one the Rachael Ray recipes. I’ll let you know…………Stephen is not home yet but I have just finished in the kitchen and cannot wait to try my new concoction. It is a take-off of a RR recipe. Because it is such a hot summer day I do not feel like a hot or heavy dinner. I choose a salad of sorts. It calls for corn fresh off the cob. I am not supposed to have corn so I only used ½ cup of frozen corn, blanched it and threw it into a big bowl. Next, I cut about 1/3 red onion very thin and added it to the corn. A can of white beans were rinsed and added to the bowl in place of the called for kidney beans. Next, it called for 2 cups of elbow pasta. That was definitely not acceptable so I am trying cabbage instead. I cut the cabbage into small rectangular pieces about the size of elbow pasta. I then poured it into a pot of boiling water. My thought is to take the edge off the crisp crunch without turning it to mush. I rinsed it in cool water and added it to the bowl. On the stove, I browned a pound of hamburger in taco seasoning mix. The recipe called for 1 ½ tablespoon chili power but I had the mix so I used it. I diced the rest of the red onion and threw it in with the meat. So…the meat has been drained and is cooling on the counter. The bowl of corn, red onion, white beans and cabbage is on the counter at room temperature. I plan to add the two together when I dish it up. I have tomatoes out to quarter and add when serving as well as some graded cheese. Oh, I forgot, as suggested I have mixed 4 Tbls light olive oil with the juice of a lime (actually it said 1/3 lime juice but I like lots) and ¼ cup chopped cilantro. I will toss that on as part of the serving prep. Sounds Yummy to me!..........It is hit, very tasty. For dessert, I ate a package of dry sugar free hot chocolate while we watched a movie. After the movie, Stephen & I took a nice evening walk.

Tuesday July 1, 2008 Phase Two Day 71:
Today is my Mom’s 86th B-day! I called her for a lunch date but she was already booked – I tell you, you have to get in early with her. She is free for dinner so we are going to do that instead. Now I know it is weigh in day but without Sonnet I will forgo the recording as well as the tape measure.

Started today with my step class. Now I am going down to the kitchen to serve up some cottage cheese and cantaloupe. I spent most of the morning creating a slide show of my mom for today’s blog – I think it turned out nice. Part way thorough I grabbed a dried fruit and almond snack. For lunch, I heated some leftovers from last night’s concoction and a peach smoothie. It is five after four so I bet get on my way to weight lift class.

Class was great, after which I hurried home to clean up. When I was ready I picked up my mom to take her to dinner. We decided on the Outback. Of course, I had a yummy Queensland salad. Mom had the ‘Joey’ serving of Ribs and sweet potato. They brought a scoop of vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce with a candle in it for her. The ice cream only whetted our appetite for real ice cream so I stopped at Dewar’s on the way home. We each ordered a scoop of peppermint stick ice cream with hot fudge. I know, but it was her 86th birthday! Surely you could see I had to join in the festivities.