Trying to keep up with the weight loss wagon......yet again (new title, same journal)

[mommyof2Pirates]

rose I just got caught up on your report. Seems like you had a marvelous time. You look absolutely amazing!!!! Im glad it seemed like getting the GF foods worked out a little bit easier for you than last time.

I hear you on the 9/11 stuff. It has me chicken fried today.

 

[jimmduck]

I enjoyed your trip update too Rose. And I think your hair looks great.

A Disney fix is good for me now as I begin "Week 69" of my countdown (I know it sounds ridiculous, but working for me so far).

I think you are incredible to follow this program. It makes me feel like if you can do this, I can follow my program too.

Take care. 9/11 is sad for us, as you may have read on another list. We have a little replica of WTC we bought from Franklin Mint. The towers had great sentimental memories for us. There are not too many mornings when I get my coffee and go to work that I don't think of those folks doing the same that morning.

You have to cherish each day and each moment because you just do not know what madness awaits.

Have a fabulous week. My training plan for the week is down on paper and on my fridge. I am determined to be successful and consistent this time.

Linda

 

[Rose&Mike]

Thanks Lindsay and Linda!

So, I never finished my last trip report....I might try to get to it tomorrow.

I have been doing pretty good with the cooking--we've actually been eating a lot of frozen leftovers this week.

Anyhow, I made these veggie burgers a couple of weeks ago and they are YUMMY! Honestly, I think they are the best veggie burger I have ever had.

I used g-f bread crumbs and was generous with both the bread crumbs and the grated sweet potato. We grated the sweet potato in our cuisinart and froze half so it should make them a breeze to make next time--assuming sweet potatoes don't get gross when frozen. Next time I might tried canned diced chiles--just to make it easier. The sour cream sauce was fabulous!

Anyhow after mixing them up, I put them in the fridge a bit before making the burgers and it worked really well. I froze a bunch and reheated them on the george foreman and it worked great!

Here's the link to the recipe:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/spicy-black-bean-cakes/detail.aspx

 

[Rose&Mike]

So, I had an unfortunate encounter with a regular beer on Saturday....bad choice. I didn't even drink half and spent Sunday and a lot of Monday feeling pretty yucky. Some day I will learn this lesson.

I got a new pair of running shorts and a new running shirt for this weekend. I'm starting to get excited about the race, but a little nervous about my foot. Hopefully it will hold up ok.

 

[Rose&Mike]

Still here, still wheat/free meat free. Though I did have a hot dog at WDW. We had a fabulous time at W&D. I will try to get on and post some pics. Started off a little rocky, but it ended up being a lovely trip. Though I did come home with a nasty cold! Uggh. Hopefully it's the only one I have this year.

Anyhow, back to menu planning. My weight is creeping up just a tiny bit and we are eating way too much processed food, so time to kick things into gear. Here is the plan for this week:


spicy black bean cakes
quinoa corn chowder with baby lima beans
pumpkin black bean soup
leftovers
cranberry/pear salad with candied walnuts
beans and veggie nachos
pizza or leftovers

I am also going to get back to rice for breakfast with fruit and nuts and milk.

I made the black bean cakes before--they are yummy! This time I am making them with frozen shredded sweet potato. Hopefully it will work! But the chowder, soup and salad are new. Yesterday I attempted to make pumpkin bars (which was one of our favorite fall snacks) and they did not turn out so great. Mike likes them, but they just aren't the same. I guess I'll keep trying and see if I can come up with something better.

 

[Rose&Mike]

Doing great with the cooking this week. And pretty well with the exercise. Sunday ran 8 miles, Monday did 1.5 on the elliptical and a 50 min strength class, today ran 4. Tomorrow I am off--no exercise! I am pooped, so really looking forward to a day off.

Saturday we made the bean cakes. I used the frozen shredded sweet potatoes and they worked great. I used canned jalapenos--and put just a bit too many in. Made things really spicy! Sunday we made the chowder in our new crock pot. It was pretty tasty. Monday we had the pumpkin/bean soup with grilled cheese gf sandwiches--yum! Today we decided to have the nachos instead of leftovers--which would have been more soup! I don't know why I scheduled soup two days in a row. Anyhow, we roasted onions, garlic, a red pepper, and a sweet potato and served it with lime juice, beans, s cream, ched cheese, salsa and some scoops. So good. And so easy. Tomorrow I'm making a salad with pears--I forgot to get the pears, so hopefully I can find some ripe ones.

I have really been struggling with just wanting to eat "normally." I have been craving any and everything that has white flour in it! I'm determined to not mess up this time and do something stupid. I'm tired of feeling like crud for days because of a poor impulse choice. Hopefully the cravings will pass soon!

 

[Rose&Mike]

We did pretty good with the cooking this past week. Did not end up making the pear salad, but did have everything else. And froze some soup for nights when we just don't want to cook.

Here is the menu plan for this week:

quinoa pie with butternut squash
grilled cheese w/pears and soup
roasted beets and broccoli with goat cheese & pecans
veggie shepherds pie with bob evans mpot and beans
leftovers or frozen soup
hubers bean soup in the crockpot
tapas: olives; goat cheese; pumpkin hummus; crackers;etc

I am really excited to make the quinoa pie and the pumpkin hummus.

I had xrays of my foot/ankle on Friday. Hopefully I will be starting pt next week. Sometimes I wonder if minor things are just not healing quickly because of the whole gluten intolerance/cd issues. My doctor seemed optimistic that I will be running again soon. I hope so, because I have been feeling very stressed and a little bit sad and out of sorts. I have really defined myself by my running and working out and now I just don't quite know what to do with myself. But I am really starting to enjoy food and cooking again, so that's a good thing.

 

[Rose&Mike]

Happy Halloween!

I made the most amazing pumpkin hummus tonight. Yum! And so easy.

This week starts my second week of rehab and second week of not running. I started tracking on myfitnesspal.com as well.

So, hanging in there. I'm up a few pounds, but determined to get it off.

 

[Rose&Mike]

Still here, still gluten free and mostly vegetarian. I have debated and debated having a burger, even went so far as to see if the burgers at a local sports bar are gluten free. But the burger patties have gluten in them--I don't know if it's the seasoning or fillers. But that kind of killed the idea, and I think I'm over it.

Tonight we made "crab" cakes with white beans. I've made them before, but forgot how yummy they are! The recipe called for a bunch of mayo, so I just used a little bit. They turned out great. I used bread crumbs I had made earlier for another recipe--I had put them in the freezer and that worked well, too. Much easier than having to make bread crumbs tonight.

I have noticed that a bunch of gluten free products have gelatin in them. I've been ignoring it for now, but I guess at some point I have to decide if I want to start avoiding gelatin again too.

 

[Rose&Mike]

Tonight we had homemade corn tortilla quesadillas with black beans and red peppers. This is the second time we have made tortillas with our new tortilla press. This time I added more water and I liked the way they tasted, but they were a little harder to work with.

For lunch I had a leftover fake crab cake. So yummy! That is definitely one of my favorite recipes. We are baking a sweet potato tonight to use for a falafel recipe tomorrow that I haven't tried before. It should be easy, since the potato will already be cooked.

My foot is really bothering me this evening. I had a little mini pity party--but I think I'm over it. I just wanted something with white flour in it! The homemade quesadillas were pretty tasty, so no complaints.

 

[Rose&Mike]

We had our first gf Thanksgiving. It went ok.

I made a pumpkin cheesecake with gf gingersnaps crust, our traditional stuffing with gf bread and veggie chicken stock (I put sausage in half for Mike and Tom), mashed potatoes, gf veggie gravy for me, turkey and gravy for Mike and Tom, shredded brussel sprouts with pecans and cranberries, and pretzel salad with gf pretzels. Last year I made the pretzel salad with vegetarian gelatin. It did not work great, so I used regular gelatin (which is really gross when I think about it, so I try not to think about it.)

For the most part everything tasted great. The pretzel salad was different, the pretzels just weren't as crunchy and yummy as they normally are. I might not make that next year. The stuffing turned out great. I made it out of udi's that I cut into cubes and dried out in the oven. Next year I will make more of an effort to season the cubes. I think it would be even tastier.

I am really frustrated with our local grocery store. They have stopped carrying Udi's bread and Snyder's pretzels. The only gf bread they have now is the tapioca bread with a shelf life of 6-8 months. That is just gross! Bread should not have a shelf life of months!

So I'm going to try to plan ahead and not have to go to the local store as much. I don't feel like rewarding the fact that they made such a big deal about carrying gf stuff--even sent out mailings talking about it and have slowly been getting rid of staples.

We have also started making beans in the crock pot and are freezing them. The whole bpa in cans thing is making me a little nervous. It's cheaper anyhow to make them yourself and they taste better.

 

[Rose&Mike]

I had physical therapy today, and it went great! She pushed and pushed on my foot and while I felt it, there was little to no pain! So exciting! The pt told me she was pushing harder than she has before and we could both feel the knot of scar tissue, but it didn't hurt. Such a relief that progress is finally being made. She put the next part in my inserts and they are feeling pretty good in my shoes.

I have started making a pot of beans every couple days in the crockpot. Half then goes in the freezer and then we eat half over the next couple of days. Today I am making chick peas. The plan is to then roast some of the chick peas for a snack. I've never done this before, so I am anxious to see how it turns out.

Last night I whipped up some bean cakes from two kinds of leftover beans that we had in the fridge. I mashed the beans, added gf bread crumbs (toasted udi's put in the food processor), some onion, a little mayo, a little mustard and craisins. So yummy! I baked them in the oven at the same time that I was roasting some brussel sprouts. I just love roasted brussel sprouts with olive oil.

I am really starting to feel like I am getting the hang of this gf-veggie cooking.

Oh, and I have a new favorite breakfast--plain kefir smoothy. I love, love, love kefir. It is so good. Today I had kefir, frozen cherries, a few pecans, a small banana, and a tablespoon of coconut. Yum!

All this food talk is making me hungry and I already had my lunch!

 

[Rose&Mike]

I just realized that I never posted a trip report for our w&d trip. I am starting to figure out that now that my foot is not hurting so much anymore, that I really spent a lot of the fall walking around in a bunch of pain--and it was kind of draining! But I am starting to feel much better.

We just got back from our annual Christmas trip and I thought I'd post a trip report. I am still having some memory problems--maybe some gluten issues still, so I thought I should start writing it all down before I forget something!

Cast of characters: Rose (44), Mike (46) and Tom (20)
Dates: December 21-27, 2012
Resort: Beach Club Villas

Mike and I were flying from home and Tom was flying in from Denver where he was visiting his best friend for a few days.

We got up at 2:45 before the alarm and I'm glad we woke up early! It was pouring! We got a great parking space but were still soaked by the time we made it to the terminal. I tied a target bag around my hair so it stayed dry. Luckily Mike did not get a picture of it!

Here's me & Mike in the airport.

Both our flights went off withour a hitch. We had a short layover in Atlanta and shared a smoothie waiting for our plane. We got a text from Tom that he was on his way to the airport in Denver. He was not very communicative and I didn't find out until we were on the plane to Orlando that he made it on time. We found out later that he was feeling very ill in the airport, but luckily it didn't last long. He said he got patted down at security--someone in my family (either Mike or Tom) always gets pulled out for extra security screening. I wonder why that is? Surely there is not profiling going on?

Anyhow, Mike and I took our time walking through MCO on our way to Magical Express cause my foot was pretty sore. But we finally made it to the bus. I think just about that time we found out Tom was in Atlanta.

The Magical Express wait wasn't too bad and we had a nice but verrrrrry slow driver. Eventually we made it to Beach Club Villas! A castmember greeted us and walked me into check in. We were given our room right away, and went straight up. We were very, very disappointed with our room. It was a corner studio that looked down a row of balconies at the road. About this time bell services showed up with our stuff and we decided to call for a different room. We have never done this before, and I felt like one of "those guests". But I am so glad we did!

They gave us another room, but it wasn't ready yet, so the nice bell services gentleman took our stuff back and we then attempted to get our box that I had mailed down a few days earlier. (Actually I used UPS). It turns out that on that day they closed the service center at the Y & BC conference center so there was a bit of confusion, but eventually, after being told that we had to wait for someone to come back from break a very nice manager got our box out for us. It was a big pain, but he was very helpful as were the bell services folks at BC and YC. Especially Allen at BC. He was so friendly and helpful--and was actually the one who told us not to wait, but to find a manager.

By then I was starving! It was about 1:30 or so. We decided to walk over to Epcot while waiting for Tom and get our annual passes renewed and get a snack. Right when we got to the bridge we got a text from Tom that he was almost there and a few minutes later a text that our room was ready! We headed up to our room. Bell services brought our stuff up including our owners locker, ups delivery and garden grocer delivery. We started unpacking and when Tom got there we had lunch in the room. We were pretty settled in by about 3:00.

Here are some pics:

We made it!

Mickey in our room.

Our new room! We loved the view. We were on the fourth floor--so no real noise, but a lovely view.

Coming up:
Our first afternoon/evening.

 

[mikamah]

What a beautiful view! You will never be one of "those people". But sometimes you need to ask for what you want and deserve. I'm excited for you trip report.

 

[Rose&Mike]

What a beautiful view! You will never be one of "those people". But sometimes you need to ask for what you want and deserve. I'm excited for you trip report.

Thanks Kathy!
I wish we would have taken pictures so you could see how bad it was. I didn't mind the view, but hated being crammed in the corner. We loved our new room!

 

[dumbo_buddy]

ah, it's always nice when the travel plans go off without a hitch!

i love the mickey towel picture - i take one every trip! really feels like you've arrived!

really cute picture of you and mike!

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

ahh the start of a new TR. I love reading all about your disney journey's. It seems like the 2nd room you got was a very nice view. It doesnt make you a bad person for asking nicely for what you want. Its better to ask then to just live with the disappointment for the stay. It sounds like minus some little blips your trip started off great.

Cant wait to see and read more.

 

[Rose&Mike]

December 21, 2011 (Day 1, Part 2)

I almost forgot, while waiting for Tom/our room to be ready Mike and I shared what would be the first of many Mickey Bars! How did I go all those years without having one???? To be honest, I was starving at that point. It was around 1:00pm and I’d had half a smoothie, 2 eggs and some snacks we brought along. GF/veggie and traveling can be a little challenging when it comes to food. Thank goodness for garden grocer!

So after unpacking and a quick lunch in our room (I had Hummus, Tostitos scoops, cheese and salsa) we headed to Epcot to finally get our annual passes renewed.

We walked through the lobby so Tom could see it, since it was his first time at BCV. We saw Allen—who helped us with our package problem, and stopped to say hello. Allen is my new favorite person. We introduced him to Tom and right away he said “he looks just like his Momma.” No one EVER says that. Ever. And the funny thing is he really does look just like my dad and my cousins when he smiles—it’s kind of eery. We talked to Allen for a few minutes and then headed off to Epcot via the International Gateway.

Here's a picture of me & Allen that we took later in the week. I need to email it to him along with a picture of our family. He said he shares them with his wife.

A friendly guest services cast member renewed our annual passes and we spent some time walking around Epcot. The holiday decorations were fabulous—they were great every where on property this year! We stopped for a few minutes to listen to the gospel concert, but weren’t really feeling it, so we walked around for a bit more and then headed to the front to catch a bus to Old Key West for dinner at Olivia’s.

Here are some pictures at Epcot. I think we took some more later in the week that I will post.

Tom said this looks like a Muppet--specifically Animal. They were all over the place.

Oh, and I almost forgot--me and Ariel at BCV:

Tom had never been to OKW, so we walked around there for a bit. We showed him where we saw the gator in September—Tom is not a gator fan. Somebody (ok it was me) kind of sort of made him afraid of gators when he was little. How was I to know that I was permanently traumatizing him?

Anyhow, they seated us early and we had a nice dinner at Olivia’s. It was relaxed and good—not spectacular, but pretty good. We were so tired, we forgot to take pics. I had the pasta/veggie dish with gf pasta and tapioca rolls—which are still yucky. I enjoyed the pasta. I am getting used to gf pasta and it’s actually starting to taste good to me. I think I also had a glass of sparkling wine. Tom had the fish dish—he doesn’t remember what it was. Mike had shrimp & grits. He said it was pretty tasty!

OKW deco had a beach theme

This was at the boat dock at OKW.

By now, it was around 7:30 and we were all pooped, so we skipped dessert and headed back to the room. We took the boat to DTD and really enjoyed some of the Christmas decorations that guests had put up on the villas at OKW. After arriving at DTD we took the bus back to BCV.

We all had been up since very early—2:45 for me & Mike--and were very happy to be back in the room. I set an alarm, but for like 8:00 or so, since I figured we needed the sleep. This is when Tom discovered that his computer screen was broken. We still don’t know exactly what happened to it, but he had used it earlier and it was fine. Dell is going to ship him a new one and we are going to buy the extended warranty for the new one. Thanks Dell! So after some discussion, we decided to deal with the computer stuff in the morning. I had trouble falling asleep, but once I finally fell asleep, I slept great!

All in all, it was a great first day! We were really enjoying the holiday decorations and how friendly all the Castmembers were!

Coming up: Day 2—a Beast, a Car, a Cat and a Fabulous Meal!

 

[Rose&Mike]

ah, it's always nice when the travel plans go off without a hitch!

i love the mickey towel picture - i take one every trip! really feels like you've arrived!

really cute picture of you and mike!

Thanks Nancy! Everytime we took a picture of the holiday decorations I said--we need to take a picture for Nancy! I hope you can get down for a December visit where you aren't sick!

I love your new signature picture by the way!

ahh the start of a new TR. I love reading all about your disney journey's. It seems like the 2nd room you got was a very nice view. It doesnt make you a bad person for asking nicely for what you want. Its better to ask then to just live with the disappointment for the stay. It sounds like minus some little blips your trip started off great.

Cant wait to see and read more.

Thanks Lindsay! I really am glad we switched rooms. They were so nice about the whole thing!

 

[Rose&Mike]

Day 2, December 22

I woke up before the alarm and jumped in the shower. We had brought along our egg cooker and so I went ahead and hard cooked eggs. Once everyone was up and moving we decided to head to DHS. We did not make opening, I think we got there around 9:30. As always, the walk was lovely.

There were still fast passes left for Toy Story for later in the day, so we went ahead and got them. We made a tentative plan to hang out for a bit, go back to the hotel to relax, head back to DHS to use any fast passes then head to the Contemporary for dinner.

We went ahead and rode Toy Story since the line wasn’t too long. We also jumped on Haunted Mansion, The Great Movie Ride and Star Tours. We also saw the Beauty and the Beast show and Lights Motor Action.

Beauty and the Beast was great! We hadn’t seen it in a while and we all really enjoyed it. I thought of Maria the whole time!

This was the first time we saw the Stunt Show since they added in Lightening McQueen. It was kind of cute! Though we all were a little sad for Herbie since he has lost his spot in the stunt show.

The decorations at DHS were nice—not as stand out gorgeous as the resorts, but we still enjoyed all the holiday touches.

It was starting to get a bit crowded so we grabbed a fast pass for Rock n Rollercoaster for later and headed back to BCV for lunch. Lunch for me was the same—hummus, cheese, chips and salsa. Yum!

After watching some ESPN and relaxing for a bit, we headed out to the quiet pool for some downtime. This is when Tom’s phone started acting up—I guess it had done it before. We’re thinking it got damp at some point, and it seems to be doing fine again, so that’s good. But that day it kept resetting itself and nothing was working. He was a little stressed out, but once we had the “no being cranky on vacation talk” we ended up having a nice talk at the pool.

Mike got in, Tom and I just hung out for a bit. There was the cutest baby at the pool and we could hear him laughing from across the pool. So cute! Mike brought me a drink from the pool bar, so all in all it was some nice downtime!

Around 5:00 we headed up to the room to get ready for our night out! The plan was to go to DHS, use our fast passes, see the Osbourne lights and then head to the Contemporary.

Here’s some pics from our day.

I believe this was in the T of T line. I love T of T!

I tried to get a picture of C2P0 for you Lindsay--but he didn't turn out very good. We really need to get a better camera!

Here are some more pics of the decorations at BC. The poinsettias were gorgeous this year!

This is the gingerbread carousel at BC that actually moved! Very cool.