Busy Life!

I haven't taken the time to update, but things are going so awesome!!   I have lost a total of 25 pounds now, and Don is around 30.  My inches are melting off - last I measured it was 23+ inches so far!!

We both feel amazing and are learning a lot.

So we went on a road trip with a bunch of teenagers last weekend where we were treated to free all-you-can-eat Pizza Hut Pizza and bread sticks.  We had been warned, so we made a pizza that morning to bring.  It was yummy.... so was the salad bar.  we had brought our own salad dressing, which helped a lot, too!

Saturday night we were at Golden Corral and able to pick out our Lean and Green meal.  It was delicious!

I was curious how I did on the trip - lost 2.2 pounds last weekend!  Wahoo!!

Monday I discovered a new recipe.  Spaghetti and meatballs.  It was so yummy!  I doubled the recipe on the meatballs, which were so easy to make, and the kids loved them.  They had  regular spaghetti while Don and I had spaghetti squash.  They snacked on meatballs throughout the week.  :)

Italian Meatballs

Ingredients:

21 oz 93% reduced fat ground beef - should yield 3 - 5 oz portions cooked 

2 tbsp  parmesan cheese

1 tsp basil leaves  

1/4 cup egg beaters

1 tbsp parsley flakes  

1/4 tsp garlic powder  

1/4 tsp pepper  

1/4 tsp fennel - optional  

1 1/2 cups Italian diced tomatoes - less than 5 grams of carbs per 1/2 cup  

*Note:  I used Italian seasoning, garlic and onion powder instead of all those individual seasonings and it was delicious!!  I also used eggs whites since I didn't have egg beaters. 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients except the diced tomatoes in a bowl until combined. Form balls from the meat. Bake for 20 minutes or until done. Measure out 5 oz of cooked meatballs and add 1/2 cup of Italian diced tomatoes in a small saucepan over medium heat until heated thoroughly. We used our Magic Bullet to blend up the diced tomatoes and it made yummy marinara sauce.  

Pizza!!

On this program we are on, we are eating very low carbs.  They have a lot of substitutions, so we really are not missing out (cookies, brownies, pretzels, cereal...).  The only thing we were both missing was Pizza.

I found a recipe that would work for us without us getting off course...  We tried it Saturday night.  Oh. My. Goodness!  Best Pizza ever!  Best pizza I ever remember having was in San Diego on our honeymoon...  This topped it!  After we are have reached our goal, we will add pepperoni, but it wasn't missed a whole lot.

Here is the recipe:

No Dough Meat Crust Pizza

Ingredients:

10 oz 93% lean ground beef, cooked and drained (2 Leans)

2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese,  divided (2 Leans)

1/4 tsp salt (1 Condiment)

1/4 tsp garlic powder (1/2 Condiment)

1/4 tsp onion powder (1/2 Condiment)

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning (1Condiment)

1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese (1 Condiment)

1 cup Great Value Italian Diced Tomatoes - must be 5g of carbs or less per 1/2 cup (2 Greens)

1/4 cup red bell peppers (1/2 Green)

1/4 cup green bell peppers (1/2 Green)

1/2 cup zucchini, chopped (1 Green)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place meat in a mixing bowl and mix with 1 cup of mozzarella. Add salt, garlic powder, onion powder and Italian seasoning until combined. Spread the mixture into a circle on a round pizza pan or baking stone (I prefer the stone). I place the diced tomatoes in a small chopper and blend until the sauce is smooth. You can use a magic bullet or a blender if you like. Top the meat mixture with the blended tomatoes. Top with the rest of the mozzarella, and then your optional toppings. Bake for about 25 minutes or until cheese is melted and browned.

So we altered it just a little, because the little grocery store in our town didn't have all the veggies  - like zucchini and I wasn't about to spend $2.79 for one red bell pepper.   We found a frozen mix of peppers/onions and spread those around, then topped it with cut up spinach and 10 black olives.  Next time we will add more veggies, like zucchini and more spinach, maybe mushrooms.  

One recipe was 4 servings for us (two meals each).   It was a large pizza and very filling and although it was delicious enough that we could have easily eaten both servings at that one time, it wasn't necessary.  (and we are learning to be happy with portion control!)  

We had a delicious breakfast this morning! 

Here is a better picture of it off the internet...