I Never Met A...

that I didn't like. The blank can be filled with the food of your choice. For me it was potsticker. I loves those juice little Chinese dumplings. They are my favorite thing to order esp. when I'm sick. Talk about comfort food. Well, I hadn't met one I didn't like until Friday night. And it wasn't so much the dumpling itself as the accompanying side. JC served up fried rice with fake chicken and edamame. It didn't look natural. The edamame looked like little green spaceships. As for the 'chick'n', it felt weird.

On the plus side, at my weigh-in I am down another 1.4 lbs. This week's menu is a little bit better. I am trying to mix up the veggies that I have so that I don't get bogged down in the same thing every night. Although, I could eat broccoli and asparagus every day. Tonight, I'm having a tomato that's been stuffed with spinach, onions and mushrooms. I'll be checking the coming sales for slaw mix. I want to saute it with a little olive oil, chopped onions, black pepper and garlic. I like my veggies crunchy.

What veggies do you like? And how do you like to prepare them? Please share. I'll be looking for more ideas as I travel the road to a healthy new me.

Breakfast

is supposed to be the most important meal of the day. That being said. You should choose wisely when making your selection. I thought I had. Jenny Craig offers a variety of breakfast options from muffins to cereals (hot and cold) to egg sandwiches and platters. Well, when looking at my weekly menu, I thought breakfast scramble cool. I'm not too keen on eggs, but I thought there'd be something in there to make it good. The box said it has egg white product. That should have been my first clue. Does that mean real egg whites? What is an egg white product? The rest of the ingredients were turkey ham (better than turkey bacon), diced potatoes (cool), and cheese/cheese sauce (this rocks). In reality, this thing bit the dust. Since when does egg white look rubber ducky yellow? The ham had a nice bacony flavor, but it was the only redeeming thing in there. The potatoes were super chewy and flavorless. And the cheese stuck like melted rubber bands to the bottom of the bowl.

To be fair, there was a fairly good portion of food. It just wasn't as good as the maple nut hot cereal or the sunshine sandwich. I'll check next week's plan to see if it's on there. I'll be exchanging it for something a little more palate pleasing.

How do you like your eggs? What do you add to them? Can you fry it w/o breaking the yolk? Hit me back with your response. I'll keep you posted on JC.

Hi, My Name Is

AJ and I'm a control freak. This first week on Jenny Craig hasn't been easy, but the hard part doesn't lie in eating the food. Or at least not most of it. Come on, soup should taste like the ingredients not water. I haven't been sleeping well since I started the program. I wake up at about 11 every night hungry. It takes me hours to get to sleep. I can't just get up and go in the kitchen and fix a snack. What's a girl to do?



Well, I suck it up. I eat the food that I'm supposed to eat. My consultant called me and we talked about what I was eating when I was eating. More importantly, why am I hungry. Well, we discovered that I like to chew my food. The act of chewing connects me to my meal and makes it more satisfying. So, we switched a few things around.

Okay, you want to know what makes me a control freak. Well, I prefer to choose my own meals. If I want something, I should be able to have it. Unfortunately, I would eat the whole thing. That's not good. If I truly excerised control, then I wouldn't need Jenny Craig.

So, what brought this on. Well, I had an unplanned dining experience. MJ and I went to Subway after dropping off a prescription at CVS. We went for his dinner. It was too close to our normal time for dinner. So, I took half his sandwich and we split the Diet Coke and Sun Chips. As meals goes, this wasn't too bad. I will be sticking as close to my weekly meal plan as possible.

Week 1=4 pound loss

How is your health plan going? What kind of changes are you making? Have you experienced any unplanned dining experiences?

JC-Day 4

Okay, so the food isn't too bad. The portions on the other hand are another story. I know that was part of the problem. I was taking in too many calories from the wrong foods in large portions. The emphasis is on filling my plate with more veggies and getting in more water, etc. There's a salad at every lunch and dinner. Unfortunately, I'm not a huge fan of cold salads. Give me a steaming hot side of broccoli or cauliflower any day. So, that's what I've been doing. I've been supplementing my Jenny meals with steamed green beans, asparagus and broccoli.

As all of you know, I have a huge sweet tooth. Well, from time to time, I get to have dessert. Tonight's was chocolate cake. It was okay. The dab of frosting was a little cloying and lacked the full rich flavor of a finely crafted buttercream. The cake itself was moist not unlike a Hostess cupcake. It was about as exciting as one, too.

I'll keep you posted on how I do and what I like. Sunday will be interesting as there will be no mini-burgers, no Doritos, no cheese fries or triple chocolate espresso brownies. PRAY FOR ME, PLEASE!!!!!!!!

Have You Called Jenny Yet?

I know you've seen the commercial. Kirstie called. Valerie called. Queen Latifah called. And hundreds of thousands of other people have called. Well, I decided to call. Yes, I called Jenny Craig. All of you know that I love to food. I love to cook and I love to eat. I eat well, but I don't always eat healthy. Let's face it who does. However, my body is telling me it's time to start eating well for my health.

I have concerns about it. Taste being the number one issue. If it doesn't taste or smell good, do I really have to eat it? I'll let you know how it goes. I can have fruits and veggies. Most of those are unlimited so I don't have to worry about getting enough to eat.

I don't know about cooking when I first start the program. I think that would be kind of hard. I don't plan to give it up though. I can and will still cook for other people.

So, have any of you tried Jenny, yet? What are you doing to get healthy? Do you modify recipes? Or do you quit cold turkey all the things you like that aren't good for you. Let me know. I'd like all the tips I can get.

I Promised

So, here it is. What I decided to do with the leftover turkey was make a potpie. This potpie was a little different from the way I normally make it. Usually, I use biscuits, crescent rolls, or puff pastry on top as well as frozen veggies. I decided I didn't want that. I wanted something that said that this are some tasty Thanksgiving leftovers. What to do, what to do, what to do?



Here's my basic recipe:

2-3 cups of diced/chopped/shredded chicken or turkey


2 cans cream of (chicken, mushroom, celery, whichever one you like)

1 pkg. frozen mixed veggies (again, I'm not pick about which one I'm getting)

1 potato diced into half inch pieces (parcook the potato, I learned that the hard way)

1 half med. onion diced similarly to the potato

1 can chicken broth (using the cream of soup can), milk or white wine

salt, pepper and whatever spices you like (sage, thyme and dill are my faves)

1 can of biscuits, crescent rolls or one sheet of puff pastry

Mix first seven ingredients together in a stockpot on medium. Bring to a boil (I'm using the term loosely here). You want everything in the pot to get to know each other. Takes about fifteen minutes or long enough to finish cooking the potato. Once done, spread everything in a 9x13" baking dish and top with crust of your choice. You'll bake until biscuits etc. are golden, brown and delicious.

I happened to top my last pot pie with prepared stuffing. It was so good. There are lots of things you can do with that leftover turkey. This is one of my faves. Share yours. You can never have too many turkey recipes.

What to Do With the Leftovers

I guess it really depends on what you have leftover. Also, you should take into consideration whether or not you really like what's been left for the bottom feeders. No offense meant to any bottom feeders reading this post. Let's say you had a 20 pound ham and you've got fifteen pounds of it left. What are you going to do? I mean really, how many ham sandwiches can you eat without putting your blood pressure at risk or your sweet swelling to Fred Flinstone proportions?

Cooked ham freezes really well. I'd cube some to make a nice potato and cheddar soup. Diced ham is a great addition to macaroni and cheese. Turns a wonderful side dish into a hearty one pan meal. If you have a sturdy KitchenAid mixer with the grinder attachment, send some ham through for a fine textured ham salad.

I chose option two for my ham leftovers. I added some diced ham to this mac&cheese recipe from RecipeZaar.com. I needed to add a little milk to it as it was really stiff after the addition of the ham. I also topped mine with buttered breadcrumbs and bacon bits. It got rave reviews and every bit of it was gone in two days.

Tell me what you do with your holiday leftovers. Stay tuned and I'll tell you what I'm going to do with the rest of the turkey.