Mama Mia!

It takes me a little while to get video taken care of, but I didn't want to just post the recipe with this one - you really need to see the video, too! The kids were a little on the loud side in the background, but you can still hear Mom (Christine) as she shows you how to make up this dish.

Raspberry Chicken

This dish turned out pretty good. I think that next time around, I wouldn't add the Walden Farms stuff to it, though, as it makes it taste too sweet. But "sweet" really isn't the right word - it's a fakey sweet, you know? It did make it even better when we sprinkled chili powder on top, so be sure to give that a shot! That made the dish go from good to YUM!

Chicken Coup Broccoli

We actually needed to steam the broccoli a little before we put it in with the rest of the dish, but it turned out wonderfully! Very satisfying...

Chicken Kohlsuppe

I enjoyed this particular soup with a cup of coffee (with a little vanilla stevia) that really set the whole meal off. The soup is a little bit salty to brighten up the cabbage. It's a little bit vinegary, too, which enhances that cabbage even more. Over all, it's just a delightful treat and *extremely* filling.

Chicken Kohlsuppe

Makes Two Servings

Each Serving 145 calories

200g chicken (110 calories)

6c water

6t chicken bullion

1t celery seed

1t onion flakes

4T Apple Cider Vinegar

shake of garlic powder

1 pieced dried shitake mushroom

1/2 packet of Sweetleaf Stevia

1/2 medium head of chopped cabbage (35 calories)

In large pot, combine everything except the chicken and bring to a boil. Add chicken (put this in whole) and allow to simmer until the chicken is done and tender, about an hour. Add chopped cabbage, allow to cook until cabbage is tender. Remove chicken, cut into bite size pieces in bowls and ladle the cabbage soup over the chicken.

This recipe has enough for two servings because this is GREAT if you put this in the frig for a couple of days and then heat it back up... So, enjoy one serving today and another in two days!

Autumn Bliss Soup

An old favorite in my family during the autumn change is cream of broccoli soup. Basically, the ingredients we normally use follow the protocol, so it was just a matter of reducing the regular amounts used for a whole family down to the recipe for one. I didn't quite get there and the recipe that follows is enough for two. So, make one for yourself today and freeze the other to take with you to work tomorrow and warm up all morning in your wee little crock pot. Everyone will be soooo jealous - I promise!

Here's the sharesies:

Autumn Bliss Soup (160 calories per serving)

Makes two servings

100g chicken (110 calories per serving)

2c broccoli (50 calories per serving)

2c water

2T chicken boullion

2T onion, chopped (large if you're really really strict about not mixing veggies)

2T milk

1t celery seed

1 or 2 bay leaves

1T butter buds

Chop up broccoli so that each florette is divided into about 5 pieces and keep the stalk. Steam the broccoli so it's about half done. Take off the oven and add 3/4 of this to the blender and puree it completely. Cut the remaining 1/4 of the broccoli into spoon size bites and set aside. To your soup pan, bring water, boullion, onion, milk, celery seed, bay leaves and butter buds to a boil. Pound chicken thin and slice into bite sized pieces, add to soup pan. When chicken is cooked completely, add all the broccoli to the soup pan and let simmer 15 minutes.

Immediately pull out the bay leaves or they'll just continue to get strong in the soup. At this point, you could also pull out the onion, too. Serve hot.

Cucumber Chicken Salad

Tonight's supper is a test for Saturday. Saturday, we all head to Portland for cello, guitar, and piano lessons. I don't want to risk getting up there to the city and not being able to find what I need to have for lunch. And maybe for dinner, too.

So, I'm planning to do the recipe below for lunch and to make the meatloaf for supper. I think. Anyway, regardless of what I come up with, YOU get to have the recipe sharesies!

Cucumber Chicken Salad (139 calories)

100g chicken (110 calories)

1 1/2c water

1T chicken boullion

4T loose leaf vanilla mint tea

5 cloves garlic, chopped

salt to taste

1T whole dried rosemary

2c cucumber (29 calories)

Put chicken into pot with everything except the cucumber and cook over medium heat until done. Refrigerate overnight.

When it's time for the meal to be eaten, chop up the cucumber, top with the chicken and use Walden Farms dressing (the Chef recommends either Honey Dijon or Asian).

Orange Ginger Chicken

Lunch today was a different sort of dish - variety is the spice of life, after all! I really like pounding the meat and putting it in the ramekin, as it makes the meat more able to soak up the flavors as well as makes it more tender. I also used the grissini stick in this recipe and it gave a nice texture to it.

Orange Ginger Chicken (190 calories)

1 orange (60 calories)

1/4t fresh ground ginger (up to 1/2t, depending on your taste)

1 or 2 drops stevia

1T stone ground mustard (Plochman's)

1T soy sauce

Orange zest

1/4t onion powder

salt & pepper to taste

1 grissini bread stick, crushed into a powder (20 calories)

100g chicken (110 calories)

Cut both the top and bottom of the orange off so there's about an inch left of the orange inside both

ends. With the middle part of the orange, slice it into 4 pieces. It should cut the orange so it looks like the spokes of a wheel.

Take the two ends of the orange and squeeze the juice into a small bowl. Add ginger, stevia, mustard, and soy sauce to the juice of the orange. If there's not enough juice to make a runny sort of paste, then add a little water.

Pound chicken breast out so it's thin.

In a separate bowl, add zest, onion powder, salt, pepper, and grissini. Mix together.

In ramekin, put two slices of the orange, lay chicken on top of that, cover with mustard mixture, pour bread stick mixture over that, then top with the last two slices of orange.

Cover with foil and chill for 1 hour in frig.

Bake at 350* for 20-25 minutes with foil on.

Herb Marinated Chicken

Today, I'm a lunch repeater. I really wanted Herb the Halibut, as it's one of my favorites and it's so easy to make. When you just aren't hungry, then you look at the clock and you realize it's time to eat NOW, this is a fast one to throw together. It helps that I had halibut already thawed in the frig, too. Not to leave you all in a lurch though for something new to try, I have this recipe that I've been intending to try out, but I don't have any tarragon vinegar made up yet. :( Maybe you do? If you do and decide to try this one out, please let me know how it turns out, and if I need to adjust any of the spices along the way.

I suppose this would work on just about any of the meats that we're allowed, but I think it goes especially well on the chicken...

Herb Marinated Chicken (110 calories)

100g chicken (110 calories)

2T tarragon vinegar

dash of soy sauce

1/4t parsley

1 bay leaf

1/4t basil

1/4t oregano

pinch mustard

salt & pepper to taste

Combine all spices in a small bowl. Coat chicken well. Cover the mixture and refrigerate overnight. Heat oven to 350* and bake 45 minutes or until chicken is done.

Balsamic Mustard Chicken

Today's lunch turned out to be a delightful concoction I created on the fly. I told you all that I'm just getting bored with the same old same old sorts of recipes, right? Well, I put some things together today that I never would've considered before. It's kind of funny, too, because one of the ingredients contains another of the ingredients that I used, so it was a natural marriage. I just never considered it before.

Balsamic Mustard Chicken (110 calories)

100g chicken (110 calories)

2T Balsamic Vinegar

2T Stone Ground mustard (I use Plochman's)

3 cloves fresh garlic, chopped coarsly

2t dried basil

Mix all ingredients except chicken in a small bowl. Add chicken and cover on both sides with the marinade. Cover and let stand 1 hour in frig. Place chicken on rammikan and pour remaining marinade over the top of it. Bake in oven 20 minutes at 350*. When 20 minutes is done, pour 2T hot water over the chicken to dilute the marinade a little, then cook another 10 minutes. Take out of oven and cut chicken into bite sized pieces, then toss with marinade before transferring to your plate.

I served this with lemon cucumber (see the picture for what they look like) fresh from a neighbor's garden. I topped the cucumber with fresh ground pepper and dipped the slices into Walden Farms Ranch dressing but decided that I liked a litte bite of the marinade and chicken on top of each cucumber best. :)

Asian Garlic Chicken

NOTE: I researched Walden Farms products and found some disturbing things about Splenda, which is in the Walden Farms products. See the research here: http://lessofmehcg.blogspot.com/2009/10/walden-farms-quick-study.html

Last night's dinner was mostly compliments of Walden Farms, as far as taste goes. I found their salad dressings & ketchup in a store in Hood River after visiting my nutritionalist, Tami, at Daniel's Health Store. (daniels at gorge dot net). I bought my hCG there for the usual price of just $25 per 2fl oz bottle and picked up a few vitamins and some stevia.

Anyway, I headed up to Rosauer's and found Walden Farms salad dressings on sale 2 for $6.

They were sold out of the one I really wanted, Dijon Honey, but I got one of each of all the rest. Asian, Ranch, Creamy Bacon, 1000 Island, Balsamic, Raspberry Vinegrette, and Bleu Cheese. I went searching then for the Ketchup. It wasn't on sale, but it was there! :)

When I got home, I immediately pulled out the chicken I was planning to have but had no idea what to do with. I also grabbed some cabbage and talked my Mom into trying the salad dressings with me last night. She often helps me come up with recipes and taste tests them with me. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Here's the sharesies:

Asian Garlic Chicken (110 calories)

100g chicken

2T Walden Farms Asian dressing

1 clove fresh garlic, minced

In center of 8" foil, place chicken, top with garlic and spread Asian dressing over all of it. Fold into packet and allow to marinate in frig at least 1 hour. Put in 350* oven for 25 minutes or until chicken is done.

We served this up on two separate plates. One (mine) had cabbage tossed with the Walden Farms Balsamic dressing. The other (Mom's) had spinach tossed with the Walden Farms Creamy Bacon dressing.

Mom reported that the dressings mingled very nicely together and that if she were working outside the home, she'd probably make the chicken up the night before, take the spinach and Creamy Bacon salad dressing (in separate containers), warm up the chicken at lunch time and just dump it all over the top of the spinach. Just a thought. :)

Chicken and Tomatoes

So, tonight, I figured it was time to just sort of be lazy about dinner. Hehehe. I already had the chicken out thawing, so figured I'd better use it. What can you do with chicken that'll make it taste yummy and in a rush? Well, I used the recipe we normally use for fried chicken, but without the flour. Since the spices are allowed, this should result in at least the taste of fried chicken. And, really, that's all I'm after anyway, right?

Here's the sharesies:

Lazy Sunday Chicken (110 calories)

100g chicken (110 calories)

1/8t paprika

1/8t garlic powder

1/8t salt

a shake of pepper

stick of cinnamon

In center of 8" foil, place chicken. One at a time, in order above, sprinkle chicken with spices on both sides. Add cinnamon stick on top of chicken, cover with foil and put in oven (or toaster oven) on 350* for 40 minutes or until done.

I've got some beautiful steak tomatoes waiting for me to do something with. I think, tonight, in honor of Lazy Sunday, I'm going to just slice 'em up, salt 'em, and eat 'em.

Orange Chicken Stir-Fry

K, here's the lunch recipe for today!

Orange Chicken Stir-Fry (110 calories)

100g chicken, cut up (110 calories)

2T Braggs' Liquid Aminos

2c cabbage

1/4c water

8 drops orange stevia

1t Knox gelatin

1/8t salt

1/4t ground ginger

In medium skillet, sauté chicken in Braggs' over medium high heat for a few minutes until almost done. Add cabbage and fry for another two minutes. Mix all remaining ingredients together well in a glass and be sure to get the knox gelatin well dissolved, without lumps. Reduce heat to medium, add sauce mix, and cover for about 5 minutes. Sauce should be thickened to a nice glaze when done.

Sott'er celo de Roma

On an evening in Roma...

Today, we proclaimed it Italian day! Well, at least Italian lunch. :)

Zucchini and Italian Chicken - we forgot to play Dean Martin's Best while we were making it and eating, but upon reflection, we should have! It'd get us "in the mood."

So, along with a parmesean flavored Grissini, here's the recipe for lunch:

Sott'er celo de Roma

100g chicken (110 calories)

Allowed amount Zucchini (1c=20 calories)

3c water

5 fresh basil leaves

2T tomato chicken bullion

1T Italian Seasonings

1t onion powder

1t garlic powder

In pot, add water and seasonings. Add chicken and allow to simmer until chicken is tender (about 30 minutes). Cut up zucchini into 1" rounds. In steamer, add zucchini and allow to steam for 20 minutes or until a fork will easily go through the flesh. Cut chicken into bite sized pieces and leave the broth in the pot to continue simmering. Place zucchini on plate (or bowl) and top with chicken. If you desire the broth (sauce), pour over everything. We topped it with both cheese and butter flavoring (see picture). Delicious!

Como e bella ce la luna brille e strette

Strette como e tutta bella a passeggiare

Sotto il cielo di Roma

Down each avenue or via, street or strata

You can see 'em disappearing two by two

On an evening in Roma

Do they take 'em for Espresso

Yea, I guess so

On each lover's arm a girl I wish I knew

On an evening in Roma

Though there's grinning and mandolining

In sunny Italy

The beginning has just begun

When the sun goes down

So, please meet me in the plaza near your casa

I am only one and that is one too few

On an evening in Roma

Don't know what the country's coming to

But in Rome do as the Romans do

Will you?

On an evening in Roma

Though there's grinning and mandolining

In sunny Italy

The beginning has just begun

When the sun goes down

Como e bella ce la luna brille e strette

Strette como e tutta bella a passeggiare

Sotto il cielo di Roma

Don't know what the country's coming to

But in Rome do as the Romans do

Will you?

On an evening in Roma

Sott'er celo de Roma

On an evening in Roma

Chili Chicken

Tonight's supper is a quick one and could be made in a small crock pot at work, if you needed to! It's easy peasy and very filling. Here's the sharsies:

Chili Tomatoe Chicken (175+ calories)

100g chicken (110 calories)

3c water

1T southwest seasoning

2T chicken tomatoe boullion

2t cumin

1t onion powder

1t garlic powder

1/2t chili powder

Allowed amount of tomato (1 cup=65 calories)

In pan, add chicken water, spices and bring to a boil. Allow chicken to cook. While chicken is cooking, cut tomatoes into bite size pieces and add to a soup bowl. When chicken is fully cooked, pour broth and chicken over tomatoes. Serve immediately!

Up Town Chicken Soup

This afternoon, before we leave, I decided to do chicken soup, but with a twist. I need to think about getting out of here, so this post will be a short one. Here's the sharesies:

Chicken Broccoli Soup (110 calories)

100g chicken (110 calories)

1/4t onion powder

1/4t chicken boullion

1 1/2c water

5 cloves garlic

fresh basil

Braggs' Liquid Aminos

Allowed amount of broccoli

Add water, buollion, chicken, onion, garlic, basil, boullion. Allow chicken to cook fully. Add broccoli and allow to cook. "Salt" with Braggs' - but be careful not to add too much or it'll be too salty.

Gotta jet!

Kind of a flat day

Today, I'm on the fourth day of a plateau. I know that it's a normal thing at this stage of the game, but I can't help but be discouraged. I was expecting a nice, even weight drop (hoping for 2# a day) - even though I know that the expectation is ridiculous. ::sighs:: So, from my own hype, I'm having a flat sort of day, where I'm finding it hard to be enthusiastic about much of anything. Blah. I don't even want to go outside on this lovely day for a walk!

I decided that tomorrow, if I'm still doing the plateau thing, I'm going to do an apple day. Six apples any time I want them through out the day sounds like a nice change about now. Where I'm certainly aware that the apple thing is just a diuretic trick to get the body moving again, I'm hoping that it will also get my emotions out of their stuck spot. Maybe I should try some EFT?

Anyway, I made the Curry Soup again for lunch, just cuz there's lots and lots of onions and I'm concerned that I may take up eating out of boredom. I did take pictures, though, so I could share with you!

Jalapaneos!

This afternoon, Mom found a family who put all their extra vegetables out on the curb with a free sign. The majority of what was there was tomatoes and jalapaneos. With all those *fresh* veggies in the kitchen, we decided to do a repeat of the Chicken Tomatoe Soup-erior dish we already came up with. It was even better this time than I recall it being the first time. If you haven't given that a shot, I highly recommend it.

The other thing she did was pickle and candy the jalapaneos. I don't know how those taste, save that she's been after a spot to get them from for a LONG time. So, even though she can't have them now, she's canning them for later. LOL!

It occurred to me this evening, after our meal and just before writing this post, that Mom and I are 25% of the way through this protocol. I'm stuck at 22# off, she's stuck at 8# off. Nothing to sneeze at, granted, but still. Stuck is stuck. All in all, though, it's really not a bad place to be a quarter of the way into this.

Time for some new supplies

We just got a tip from Debbie, who reported that our roast beef, cooked up in an oven bag with radishes makes the radishes taste just like potatoes. This opens up a whole new set of possibilities where recipes are concerned and Mom and I were just discussing some of them when we realized it's time for dinner now!

We're going to do a repeat dinner tonight, because we enjoyed it soooo much. We didn't deviate last time around from the recipe and I don't think we've any plans to do so this time around. When you find a perfect recipe, just make it that way. :)

In discussing the radishes, we started going over the list of what's allowed on this Protocol and discovered some other things that might be interesting, if we applied some of our kitchen and spice prowess. Ok, it's not my prowess, it's really Mom's, but I have some good ideas now and again, too!

I was also looking at the nutritional value of cocoa powder. I thought that maybe I might start getting ready for what I know is coming (as it does every month) when my cycle starts. I crave chocolate like mad. I don't want it any other time - just that first day of my cycle. It turns out that cocoa powder has 1g of fat in it PER TABLESPOON! Yikes! Definately not allowed. I should have just bought chocolate bars and lived on those and McDonalds or Skippers for the loading days!

So, we're thinking that we need to head to the grocery store sometime soon and see about getting some of these other things. First, however, we'll try to create the recipes. You can't always build your recipes by the seat of your pants.

Our list looks like this:

• radishes
• cabbage
• celery
• spinach
• veal
• lobster

I think we should add:

• a few strawberries
• raspberries
• grapefruit

The fruits are so we can see what we can come up with on the desert side of life. Where the apples I concocted are absolutely scrumpcious and we're far from tired of them (in fact we look forward to them every evening with a movie), it'll be good to have something waiting in the wings for a little variety.

Yikes - I better wrap this up so I can go make dinner. It's gotta stew there for 45 minutes before it's ready, too.

Dinner - trying someone elses' recipe

We're trying out the Cinnamon Curry Chicken Soup recipe tonight. It's YUMMY! We didn't deviate from the recipe at all - so just follow the instructions and eat up! It gets the sinuses moving, though, so just be aware that it's going to happen. :)

Supper Menu

Tonight, we made one of the best recipes ever.

Chicken Tomato Soup-erior (~170 calories)

100g chicken (110 calories)

Allowed tomatoes (~65 calories)

2 cups water

1/2 t cumin

1/4 t oregano

1/4 t red pepper flakes

1/8 t ground cloves

1/4 t jalapeno (diced fine)

2 t chicken bullion

salt to taste

Boil all ingredients (except the tomatoes) until chicken is cooked through. Cut up tomatoes (fresh off the vine is best!) and add to soup sized bowl. Remove chicken and cut into small pieces, add to tomatoes. Ladel broth onto chicken and tomatoes. Let cool off a little and use your grissini breadstick to cool your tongue as you enjoy this dish.