MM Warriors - Three Steps to Good Health (As of 11/18)

[Wisteria1956]

Cindy: It was great to see you and I wish I could see you in your 29’s! Have a wonderful Christmas and check in when you can. Take lots of pics for us of the kids and everyone!

Robin: We were watching the report on the Weather Channel in amazement about the snow in your area! Hundreds of flights are cancelled. Is it supposed to break before you head out on Wednesday? I hope so! Be nice about the tea I sent you, or I will send you some castor oil next time. Enjoy movie night! We're going to watch Bedtime Stories after I found out two of the kids we loved from SYTUCD are in it as dancers. I thought the fam might like to see it at Christmas.

Kathy: You win the prize on the best price on the pants!!! Congrats on the size 12’s! They will probably break in a bit and you will be comfortable, especially if you are a good girl this Christmas.

I didn't get as much done as I wanted to today. Still have a lot of cleaning to do, but I wrapped most of the presents. Tom is making dinner. I think he's pacing me for the deluge; he's been through a few Christmases with me, lol!

 

[Seabreezes]

HI,

Had a busy day, but can't say I accoplished much. At least I didn't have to trudge through snow. I'm glad your tucked away safe and sound, Pony.

Kathy - size 12's how exciting!!!

Hi Cindy - great to hear from you. I know this time of the year is crazy for people with families. Just remember to enjoy it all, too!!

Nell - what fun to go look at the Christmas decorations. We have a neighborhood of homes not too far from us that is lovely to drive through. Downtown Honolulu puts up a huge display for Christmas along with an immnse tree. All very pretty. We are in an area of mostly condos so you don't see a lot of decorations except for the wrapped coconug and palm trees. We put lights on the railing in front - but only boats can see them! We look at them from inside and it is festive.

We are off for drinks and sunset at The Moana under the banyan tree for those who know the hotels here and then to a steak house for dinner with friends who are visiting for the holidays. Should be fun. They do serve some cheese bread that is the best ever. I'm not sure I am strong enough to bypass it. I'll stop at one piece instead of the whole basket!!!

I just went downstairs and found the postman at almost 5 PM. I had ordered antherium flowers to be sent to friends for his Chrstmas Day birthday. Well, the flower shop called me and said it was too cold in the Chicago area to send flowers so wouldn't send them. This was all arranged earlier in the week. So, part of my day was looking for a birthday card that was Hawaiian. Most of the stores had put things away so they had room for their Christmas things. I finally found what I wanted and it is in the postman's hand, but when it will arrive I have no idea. Even though we are not affectd by snow, we are still affected by the weather in other places

When I was out this morning Bob called and asked how much soap had I squirted into the dishwasher. I said just a little bit - well there were soapsuds everwhere appearantly. I had used the hand idshwashing soap instead of the dishwasher soap. The kitchen floor is really shiny!!!! Talk about a senior moment!!

Hope everyone is tucked in safely

"See" you all tomorrow.

 

[Wisteria1956]

Jocelyn: If you like cheesy bread, we might have to have a planned cheat at Alchemy Restaurant in Murphys. Their bread can't be described! I'll email you the recipe.

 

[momtozac]

Its 11:30pm on Saturday and its STILL snowing!! hasn't let up all day. Afraid the dogs aren't going to 'go' outside!

Got to the gym earlier and did the ellipical for 45mins and they have some weight machines set up like at curves--I forget what they call that--and I didn't 3 reps on each machine--hoping I don't pay for it tomorrow! I'd like to try to do that at least 3 times a week. I know we're supposed to workout 5 days a week but even at my skinniest I didn't work out that much! I'll have to aspire to it

As soon as I walked into Diane's office, she offered me a bottle of water!! I knew right then how important water was to her!! Glad to hear from her and that MM is taking off in GB.

Prayers for all my wonderful MM friends-such a blessing to know you're here

 

[Virginiaponygirl]

Good Morning everyone, we are still completely snowed in...we got a single pass down the driveway, but when you hit the end, our roads are still not plowed at all, so unless we take the 4WD trucks, we are still pretty much stranded. The nearest "main" road is about 6 miles away, and we are told there is only a single lane plowed there...and the main highway I need to take out of town is completely closed still...vehicles off the road everywhere, tractor trailers jack-knifed all over the place....well they have 2 more days to get this straightened out before I am leaving for Connecticut! OMG! I can get the big truck out, but my drive to work car, and Mom's are still completely buried in huge drifts. We are renting a car for the drive north, so here's hoping we will still be able to leave on time!

Talked to Ali yesterday and they were expecting it in Ct last night...she and Steve had holed up in a hotel room downtown in the city where they both work. Working at the hospital means that not being able to get there is NOT an option for her, so Steve got them a room and they stayed there last night. She has to be at work at 6am, and he has to be at the civic center (he is the entertainment director/coordinator there) at 5am...so from the hotel, they will both have less than a mile to get to their jobs. Smart move on his part I thought! They live about 20 miles out of the city in a rural suburb, so they were sure to be snowed in if they stayed at home.

Natalie - sounds like you didnt get socked too bad, if you were able to get out and go to the gym! good for you!! Dont forget that ANY exercise is better than none...but see if you can get that 10 minutes in a couple times a day...even a 10 minute brisk walk is really good for us!

Kathy - wondered if you got more snow or was 5 inches your total? Thank goodness you are still able to get out and about!

Jocelyn - Pony wants to come to your house!! NOW!!!

Lisa - PLEASE, no castor oil!! I'll be GOOD I SWEAR!! Pony LOVES her green tea! yum! REALLY!!

Julie and Julia was a cute movie...and of course Mom tortured me with a huge bowl of buttered popcorn while she watched...I made her sit on the OTHER side of the room! Wish I had some noseplugs though, the smell of it was driving me crazy!! I whipped up a bowl of ricotta with PB and some mocha splenda and that was my movie treat!

Dennis held his own yesterday, except for a crying jag where he was lonely and feeling like he was never going to get out of the hospital again...tore me up to listen, but he came around by the end of the conversation...I had called a number of his friends from work at our old job at the car dealership and several of them are planning to go see him today, since they live in the city and are able to get around the main roads to the hospital.

The city of Lynchburg is where I work, where the hospital is etc, but it is actually 35 miles from my home to there...so at least some folks there are able to get out. Crossing my fingers I will be able to get to work tomorrow, as its my last day before we leave!

Kathy - did you find your SF syrup?

 

[gettinhealthy]

Good morning everyone.

Natalie, hoping you didn't get too much more snow from this storm. Seems to have been a real trouble maker the whole way up the coast. Praying your staying safe.

Robin, hope your roads get cleared soon. It is so hard digging out from all that snow. I will say a prayer for your daughter and husband also. It was very thoughtful of him to think of staying at the hotel. Sounds like she has a winner there
No, I didn't get my s/f syrup. We went to Sam's in Greensburg, and I think that store is a smaller I still need to go to Monroeville probably Tues, so I'll see if maybe they got some in. We were going to skip over there yesterday, but Mike's daughter decided it was time to come home after being at 3 stores and she got what she wanted. So, I didn't get any of my shopping done. I never put it off like this! I don't know what happened this year. But she said she was tired and sleepy at 5:30 (we got there at 2:30) but managed to stay up on the computer last night until at least 3:30. Tired, huh? Sorry here I go again. Bad Kath!!

Was going to go see Tristan's house all decorated today, but not sure if I can or not. Carrie's car has a flat tire, so I may try to pump it up and drive over to walmart and get her 2 new ones. That will be part of her Christmas present this year. She said that was all she wanted. Silly girl.

Need to tidy up the house a bit, so catch up later with you all later.

 

[Carol-Fish]

Glad to know that everyone in the snow belt is safe and starting to dig their way out of the white stuff. I hope it doesn't impede too many of your Christmas plans.

Not much of consequence happening here. Did do some baking yesterday and let's just say that I was not as good as Barb and Lisa. Not horrible, but not good. Just get me thru next weekend and things will go back to normal. My oldest son is coming home from UCLA where he is in the doctorate program for bio-chem. He'll be here for a week and I always do some of his favorite meals since he cooks for himself or eats out when at school. By next sunday evening, the holiday season will be over as far as I'm concerned. We never do any kind of New Year's thing as my husband has always had a gig that night and if I don't go with him, I'm asleep before midnight.

I am hoping to do a breakfast casserole for Christmas morning...does anyone have a good recipe for one? I'm looking for one with bread in it, as this will be the prototype for the casserole we'll make to take to the homeless shelter on the day after Christmas. We need something that we can make ahead and that will stretch to feed 100-120 people. We thought an egg casserole and then some fruit with yogurt would work well. Any ideas?

Need to finish up my sewing today..put some snaps on the bottom openning of the duvet and do some top stitching on the apron. I also have a Christmas quilt to make, but don't know if that will really happen. I don't know about the rest of you, but for me the hardest part is just getting the sewing machine set up and everything assembled to start sewing. Once this happens, the rest is fun and seems to go quickly. I wish I had a sewing room that I could just meander into and start sewing whenever the urge struck. And where all my material could be neatly stored in drawers so I could find things easily. Nice dream!

Hoping you all have a peaceful Sunday.....the last one before Christmas. My church doesn't do a Christmas Eve worship so today will be our big one with the choir singing and the special programs. I'm looking forward to the wonderful spirit this will invoke.

Carol

"...and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

 

[Wisteria1956]

Robin: GOOD JOB on the popcorn! I still haven’t been to the theater! I had to melt butter for one of my cookie recipes and that did set me off wanting popcorn. Not so bad that I would have done it, though. What is it about that stuff???!!!

I will pray the roads are clear and the weather good for your trip. Maybe it’s better it happened now?? Your future SIL sounds like he will really take good care of Ali.

Natalie: What else did Diane say?? It’s great to see you and good job on the workout!

Carol: I have a wonderful strata recipe with bread, but it’s kind of on the upper end since it’s from Sunset magazine, so if you are feeding a crowd, Google strata and pick a simpler one. Mine has crusty sourdough, asparagus and prosciutto. You can make it ahead of time for sure. I’ve always dreamed of a sewing room, too. A big laundry/craft room where I could have everything at my reach would be wonderful. I’m going to put my machine on J-P’s old desk area in the bonus room for now. That’s better than dragging it downstairs.

Presents are wrapped. Let the cleaning commence!

 

[gettinhealthy]

Robin, forgot to mention, we got a total of 5". Not quite as much as you!!

 

[Malzer]

Hello everyone! We are still around, just snowed under and I really mean snowed under lol my parents are really under too, we both have about 24 inches of snow now and they seem to think we are getting more?? I am not sure, just know that some parties that were planned have been changed due to weather! I am sure we are not the only ones in the snow though

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the holiday! We are still on program, all except my Husband, he has been in the hospital and they said he needed more carbs than just 20g. But he is still on plan just adding about 2 servings of carbs.... hope it works out for him they now have decided that he is a diabetic. So we are on the right track with this WOE and hopefully he will get the hang of things soon...

Wishing you all well!

 

[Daniele]

Good afternoon/evening everyone. I'm tired but we're going to visit friends again tonight. I enjoy visiting them, but I can't keep up with the every day thing. I've got too much work to do also.

I went back to step two and am struggling again with my eating times. I get too busy and my disorganized mind tries to take a hiatus. I don't know but I'm thinking I'm going to have to do step one again for ten days after the holidays are over if I keep missing carb dams. I'm making a significant effort but I really can't get my head wrapped around what time it is, or I'm oversleeping.

Anyway, going to watch miracle on 34th street and have dinner with friends. Hopefully I will be able to check back in with everyone tonight. Love all of you.

 

[Seabreezes]

Carol - here is a recipe we used for a brunch the first Sunday after New Year's for many years. I made them ahead of time - it has to be refergerated overnight anyhow.

1 pound of bulk sausage cooked
5 slices bread - we used sliced sourdough French bread
3/4 pound --3 cups grated cheddar cheese
4 eggs
2 cups milk 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup diced chilies

Remove crusts from bread and cube into one inch cubes. (The original recipe says to butter the bread, but there is enough fat from cheese and sausage as far as we are concerned!)

Put 1/2 of the bread on the bottom of a oblong casserole dish
Put 1/2 cheese on top of bread
Add all the sausage over top of cheese and bread
Put remaining bread
Put remaining cheese on top of the bread.

Beat the eggs, milk, seasoning together. Pour that over the top of your bread, sausage, cheese mixture. Sprinkle the chilies on top. Cover and let sit overnight.

The bread soaks up the milk and makes a wonderful casserole you can cut into squares.

I served it with fruit and bran muffins.

Mimosas and gin fizzes rounded out the brunch party - but know that is not wht you want for your seniors!!!

I haven't made this since we started low carbing, but do put the same ingredients together and just bake it like a souffle without the bread. When I do that I use a can of chopped chilis and just mix them in and use some sour cream and mayo instead of the milk.

I think I might have used a bit more bread to make it go further, too. It is rich enough that people didn't take huge servings. I know Costco in California had the sliced sour dough French bread.

Bake at 325 for 45 - 60 minutes. It depends on how much you have in the casserole dish.

For those who can get good low carb bread or are on step 2 and can find acceptable bread you could have this as a legal food.

Here is another one I found in my low carb stash -

Monte Christo Casserole

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 6 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Casserole Low Carb

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
6 slices low carb bread -- torn up
4 egg eggs
1/4 cup cream
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup Swiss cheese -- shredded
1/2 cup ham cubes
1/2 cup turkey -- cubed
2 Tablespoons parsely

Soak all together

This probably called for 1/2 cup milk and I just used half water and half cream to make it lower carb.

 

[Seabreezes]

Carol - I see where Lisa suggested Googling sratatas, too. You will probably have more ideas than you need.

The snow must be beautiful, but do know it can get tiresome when it slows you down. You are really snowed in, Pony. I do hope it warms up and melts fast, but not so fast that it causes flooding. There always seems to be something to worry about!!

Had a wonderful dinner out last night, but did overeat a bit!!! Fortunately we don't eat like that all the time!!


There are few rain squalls coming through today. It was pouring when I went to the gym and sunny when I got home, then it poured for a bit here, but now very sunny.

Nell - hope you enjoyed your visit. It sounds as if you are meeting more people there.

Malzer - Happy Holidays to your and your family. Nice to "see" you. I hope they get your husband's diabetes under control. I'm surprised they would say to have more carbs, though. We get a lot more than 20 with the veggies, cottage cheese, nuts, etc. Do you add 5x5's?

Natalie - how nice that you got to the gym. Hope you don't suffer from it, though. Easy does it - but I never take my advice, either!!

Lisa - hope you are having fun cleaning today!!

Take Care Everyone

 

[Carol-Fish]

Jocelyn and Lisa,

Thanks so much for your suggestions and the recipes. I have no experience with breakfast casseroles and just didn't know how to weed out the good recipes I found online. The ones you posted Jocelyn, were a lot like the majority of the ones I pulled up. I'm glad to know that you've made them and they are good. Thanks Lisa for the Sunset Magazine reference...I love their recipes but you are right, they're usually on the pricey side.

Pony, Kathy, Melanie and Natalie, I'm glad the snow hasn't caused too many problems for you. You all sound like you're rather enjoying it and not being too inconvienced. It must be beautiful!

Just got home from church and am trying to plan out the coming week. I want to make sure that things aren't too hectic for us to read the Christmas story in St. Luke and sing some carol's. My DD25 and her husband and 2 boys will be going to his parents house ( about 45 mins away ) for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning so I'm thinking we might do a sort of Christmas Eve thing for our monday night family home evening time. I hope it works out. I always have good intentions and sometimes things I feel strongly about but others don't, just don't happen.

Carol

"...and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

 

[Seabreezes]

Carol- I have made the sausage casserole, but have not made the other one. It must have been one I found a long time ago as it was on my desk top computer and I don't use that very often anymore.

 

[Carol-Fish]

Thanks, Jocelyn

It's just nice to know that a recipe is tried and true before I make it for about 100 people. I don't know what it's supposed to taste like so it's hard for me to judge which recipes are good and which are not. Thanks for sending me one that you liked.

Carol

 

[Virginiaponygirl]

Hi everyone...decided the heck with the snow and we took the quads out and dragged the kids around on sleds and tubes for a couple hours...it was fun and actually kind of warm out...got the cars cleaned off so the sun could melt the rest off, but still have about 4 feet of 20" snow piles BEHIND the cars, so still cant get them out! I did get my big Ford Dually truck out and ventured into town...BAD MOVE...the closest plowed road is 8 miles away, so it was totally treacherous out there. figured since it looks like I will not be making it to work again tomorrow I might as well make some peanut butter fudge ( my famous recipe ) as Ali loves it and Rick and Dennis too...so tomorrow will be fudge day and hopefully tuesday I will be able to get out to the hospital and deliver it with their christmas gifts.

Carol - sounds like you got some good ideas for your breakfast casseroles...I have one somewhere thats awesome too, its a baked french toast recipe that might be good too...you might google that if it sounds good to you. Its basically sliced bread layered in a pan with the eggs, milk cinnamon mixture poured over, then baked and served in squares with syrup.

Nell - hope you get your step 2 schedule back on track...guess you need to start setting your alarm again! You had it down FAR better than I ever did!

Lisa and Jocelyn - You guys have the greatest recipes stashed away! I cant wait to try the one with the lo-carb bread, since I am heading to lo-carb bread land soon! LOL

Melanie - good to see you here, and praying your husband is home from the hospital and feeling better by Christmas!

Lisa - let me tell you how HARD it was to resist that popcorn! I LOVE popcorn!!

Trying to eat up everything in the fridge that will go bad when we leave, so had a lovely burger with a slice of cheese and a big bowl of broccoli...just have to eat up some cottage cheese and hard-boiled eggs, and I should be good to leave! Have my protein bars, Atkins shakes, string cheese and almonds for the road...cant wait to raid her stores for DaVinci, low-carb bread, fresh fish, and other legal yummies!! Who would have thought I would be excited about this stuff!

 

[Wisteria1956]

Carol: You will love the breakfast cassarole. You can't really mess it up and they are much easier than they look. It's so great to make in advance of baking. I love it when you can do that. It's good with chopped ham, too. I like the crusts on the bread. They poke up and make a nice crunchy bit.

Robin: I'm glad you had a fun snow day! We're praying for you to be safely on your way to CT soon. I love popcorn too! Maybe I could try to say I used to love popcorn?? After I reach my goal, if I am still alive by then, I might eat it once a quarter when I go to the movies. I do make the best 'old fashioned' popcorn in a pan, as my son will attest, though. Ah, well...I love my jeans more.

Nell: Are you getting any closer to eating breakfast, lunch and dinner? Tom and I eat every meal at about the same time, but we know for sure we'll have dinner later than 5 hours from lunch (He has to eat lunch early) so we both have an 11-20 at about 3:30. I've come to expect my snack. Maybe that would help you? I had the most decadent snack last night before bed. A sandwich thin with cream cheese and a trace of Polynar jam.

Melanie: Can you show the arrow chart to your husband's doctor? I think it's pretty much textbook perfect for a diabetic even without adding anything, let alone how generous Step 2 is. 20 carbs doesn't give the real picture of the eating plan, as Jocelyn pointed out. Blessings to your husband and prayers for his health. I hope he can control it with diet??

People are getting sick so we're kind of nervous. Mom is finally a bit better and now Dad is getting it just in time for the kids to arrive tomorrow night. I've had a cough and a bit of a sore throat too, but it's not going to get me!! I've been on all my good stuff all day and took a nap in between cleaning. It'll work out.

 

[Seabreezes]

Well - my laptop with its new cord just died. I think it is the computer and not the power cord so I am back on the heavy laptop.. This is not good at all.

I was reading some of the posts on the other site and saw an answer from Diane to one of the members who is suffering from a foot problem and a lot of pain. She told her to stay on step 1 until the problem is resolved. She had gone to step 2 and quit losing weight. Diane said you would lose weight on step 1, but not on step 2 if you have chronic pain. It sounds as if just stress would have quite an impact, too.

Here is the quote from Diane---"Your problem with continued weight loss is all related to pain. Pain causes a rise in stress hormones like adrenalin, epinephrine, cortisol. Stress hormones cause blood sugar to rise. Rising blood sugar causes insulin to be released. As you are Met B, you over release insulin...the fat gain hormone. Hence, although you are following Step 2 correctly, the insulin response to the pain/stress hormones is impeding weight loss. The answer: Step 1. Get back in the saddle, go happily to Step 1...a Step in which no amount of stress can stop weight loss. Why? Because in Step 1, your liver is emptied of glycogen stores and no matter how much stress hormones ask for a blood sugar rise, if you aren't putting carb in your mouth and the liver isn't putting out glycogen, your insulin will not over release. Diane"

Here is another affirmation that staying on step 1 is not a problem, I guess!!!

Kathy – Did you watch your Steelers today? It looked really cold there!!

Lisa – hope your don’t get ill. You have way to many things to do to get sick!!! What a great idea to have Melanie show the food list to the doctor. Most diabetics can’t have a lot of fruit even under the best of circumstances.

Stay safe and warm everyone.

 

[Wisteria1956]

Jocelyn: Thank you for the well wishes! I am feeling better tonight. I drank echinacea tea before coming in here to say goodnight. I hope your computer issue isn't too serious. Mine has a weird problem right now too. Love 'em and hate 'em.

Tomorrow I have to made a carrot cake, cranberry macaroons, muffins and juice a huge sack of lemons. John-Paul is going to get a late start so I have all day to put the finishing touches on his room, etc. Can't wait til they all get here. Let the fun begin! I sure am glad I'm self employed. I gave myself the week off!