Confessions

You hear that confession is good for the soul; well you know, sometimes confession is the fastest way to correction. 

After the brunch I prepared last weekend, I came home with a collection of leftovers, a quart of honey yogurt, a quart of sliced strawberries, a quart of diced pineapple and blue berries, a jar of homemade granola, a loaf of banana bread (a gift mind you) and 9 or 10 mini zucchini chocolate chip muffins. 

Well this collection of goodies is almost gone and it was not solely by my husband. I did my fair share of diving into the throws of full on carb binging.  The weird part was looking at this list of things you would think, what's wrong with a bowl of honey yogurt with fruit and granola (every evening...=sigh=) going to do to me or a muffin as I drive to the train station. 

Well, what it did to me was cause a six pound gain and left me craving sweet like there is no tomorrow. My blood sugars have spiked, forcing me to take more diabetic meds and I've had crazy wierd dreams at night, in turn I'm tired from poor sleep, so hey, lets have another cup of coffee to perk me back up. I'm bloated, puffy and overall uncomfortable. So there you go, you wonder what happens when to take a leave from eating Keto and dive back into the carb pool, your body goes wacko from the dousing of sugar each day. There's my confession, I did it, it's over and now to start feeling better again.

I'm sure this is not that last time I will ever go on a carb binge; and I'm sure I will have to pick myself up and dust off the bad behavior. But I can't dwell on that, I have to focus on doing my best and keep moving forward.

My plan to get back on the wagon:

Today - Take the candy bag (random left over Easter candy I found on a shelf) to the office for others to eat, start the day with a bacon, cauliflower and butter scramble., yumm.

Saturday - toss any remnants of this past week (my hubby may grumble), a trip to the farmers' market & butcher shop, food prep, and good night's sleep

Sunday - Meal plans based on what was available, shop for any remaining needed ingredients

Monday - Execute

For now, I will eat as Keto based as I can the next couple of days, based on what is still in the house and until I can get my shopping done and have my frig stocked for sucess. I know I've preached it myself; failing to plan is planning to fail. This week failing is not an option, time to follow my own advice and do what I know is the right thing.

Three Cheese Chicken with Roasted Tomatoes: Prep Nights part 2

After taking a few weeks off from blogging to put on a Easter egg hunt for 60 kids, I was ready to get back to some normalcy. Well so much for that

As I've pushed through the past few weeks, having my vegetables prepped has been a total lifesaver. I've been able to pull meals together in 30 minutes and be able to run back out the door just as fast I ran in. 

One thing I learned in the process is that preparing food in this manner really does show you what you use allot of and what may go to waste. I've also realized what a loss I'm at when I don't take that time to slice, dice and chop a healthy batch of vegetable and pull a couple of cuts of meat from the freezer for the week. 

The weather has been exceptionally nice this spring and I've really tried to make the best of it, we've installed a fire pit, worked over the fence around the garden and installed a new gate. Planted the garden, set up one more raised bed for vegetables and had fun adding trellises and climbing flowers to help attract birds and bees to the garden. We've spread cardboard between the raised beds and down the walkways and covered them with straw for weed control and started a new compost pile. We are still working on spreading enough gravel around the fire pit and between the work sheds and the garden so we have clean walk ways and work spaces, but its beginning to really take shape. 

I must say, just typing that all up makes me tired, and in between all the projects we watch our grandkids and last Saturday I cooked a brunch for 25 ladies for Mothers Day. Sadly enough I'm ready for a couple of weeks of rain that force me to stay inside and work on some projects in the house, including catching up here with you. I've cooked some wonderful dishes, taken pictures and then ran back out to work on another project. So needless to say I have lots of photos of food I forgot what I put in it and plenty more ideas I need to sort out.

This week I've been faced with no time to get to the grocery store, event leftovers and bring work home from the office. It's one of those weeks I'm ill prepared, but I had a creative moment when it came to dinner tonight and I just  had to take the time to share.

Three Cheese Chicken with Roasted Tomatoes
3 servings (unless you are really hungry)
1lb chicken tenders, cubed (boneless/skinless thighs would work great too)
2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 c. minced red onion
8 oz roasted (or sundried) tomatoes in oil
4 oz cream cheese
1 c. heavy whipping cream (or more to reach desired thickness)
1/2 c. grated  parmesan cheese (I by it by the tub full, but the stuff in the green shaker works too)
White cheddar, colby, or mozzarella - Grated for garnish

 

 

Preheat a large heavy skillet on the stovetop, reduce to med heat, oil pan and add chopped chicken. Salt and pepper the meat and allow to cook, stirring until cooked on all sides, add chopped onion and garlic and continue to cook for a minute or two, adding tomatoes to warm. Drop in cream cheese and allow it to start to melt, adding cream to loosen up the mix, more as needed. Give it a taste for seasoning, adjust the salt and pepper to your taste and dish it up. 

This sauce would be great paired with cauliflower rice, zucchini noodles, pasta or even with steamed vegetables. Tonight I made it with cauliflower rice and the only downside was I should have made more rice!

That's it, it came together super fast and we were eating in no time. 

Well, now its time for me to tackle the pile of paperwork from the office that is waiting here beside me.
But before I go, here's a peek at my other projects and my helpers