7/31/10

Last night I didn't prepare anything for today's lunch because I was super tired.  So for breakfast I went to Panera Bread and got a bacon and spinach souffle.  It had 1 g of carbs.  It was really good, with bacon and cheese and eggs and spinach all baked together.

I went to my mom's for our usual Saturday get together.  I had hot dogs with chili cheese and onions, no bun.  I also had some smoked sausage and grilled squash and zucchini.

7/30/10

For brunch this morning I had some hot dogs with cheese (no bun) and a small salad.  Those things don't really go together, but I feel like I'm lacking vegetables. 

For dinner I packed some tilapia filets, a boiled egg, some cucumbers and celery (not pictured is ranch on the side), some olives, strawberries, cherries, grapes, cantaloupe and kiwi.  I haven't been able to find kiwi at the grocery store for the past few weeks.  I just saw them again last night.  Yay!

When I got home I had a turkey, lettuce and mustard wrap and 2 boiled eggs.

7/29/10

I've got a busy day today - Thursday are usually like that.  I'll be leaving the house around 10 am and getting back home around 10 pm.  *sigh*  I hate days where I spend 12 hours away from home :-(.  On the bright side, I'll have at least one nutritious meal!

I packed a turkey pastrami, lettuce and mustard (on the side) wrap on a carb smart tortilla.  In the little bowl next to the wrap I have some homemade meatballs.  I also have a boiled egg.  I put the egg in a plastic sandwich bag so it wouldn't soggy up the wrap.  I also have some grapes, cucumbers, cantaloupe, strawberries and cherries.  It's all packed in my Fit & Fresh lunch box.  I love this thing!  It all fits together with one lid; very convenient.

I also had a grilled chicken wrap from Sonic.  I'd originally packed 2 meals for today, but then I left one at home.  GRRR.  So I found the lightest thing I could on the Sonic menu.

7/28/10

I went to lunch with my mom today.  We went to a chinese buffet.  I had a various assortment of beef, chicken and lamb along with some vegetables.  It was all very good, but now I don't feel so good :-(

I feel like I haven't been getting enough vegetables today, so I included a lot for lunch/dinner.

I have a stuffed chicken breast that I bought at Wal-Mart.  It was already seasoned and stuffed so all I had to do was bake it for 30 minutes.  It's stuffed with swiss cheese and crimini mushrooms.  I sauteed some fresh mushrooms to go on top.  Along side that I have an entire steamed zucchini.  For fruit I have cantaloupe, grapes, cherries and strawberries.

I also have a giant salad that includes greens, celery, cucumber, turkey pepperoni, cheese and ranch on the side.  It's packed in the salad bowl I found at Target.  The lid had a spot for the fork and also holds a container for dressing.

When I got home I had a chili dog without the bun.  I had some left over chili that I heated up.  I then added sliced hot dogs, cheese and onions.  Yum!

7/27/10

Yesterday was a killer day.  I was dragging up until I crawled back in bed to sleep.  I even went to far as to take an hour long nap in the car before work.  I don't know what the problem was!  Felt like my batteries were dead.  Hopefully today will be better.

I took my daughter out for a hot dog at lunch time.  I didn't eat one, but I had a ball watching a 2 year old wrestle a huge hot dog and bun :-).  She also had carrots with ranch.  Then, for a treat, we split a small dish of ice cream (it was probably 1/2 cup of ice cream) from Cold Stone Creamery.  YUM!!!

For lunch I packed some spaghetti sauce that my mom made, with meatballs that I made.  I have spaghetti squash to go with it. 

I also have a salad with greens, cucumber, celery, turkey pepperoni and cheese.  I have some ranch dressing on the side.  In the two smaller containers I have some strawberries, cantaloupe, grapes and cherries.

When I got home I had a baked chicken breast that was stuffed with swiss cheese and crimini mushrooms.  Lest you think I was being Susie Homemaker, I'll tell you that I bought the chicken breast from Wal-Mart.  It was pre-stuffed and seasoned and frozen.  Just waiting for me to pop it in the oven!

7/26/10

This morning I had eggs, sausage and half a biscuit for breakfast.  I took my daughter to McDonald's for breakfast :-)  She really enjoyed it, and I enjoyed spending time with her early in the day.  We never do that!

For lunch I had some homemade meatballs that have ground beef, onion, garlic, ketchup salt and pepper.  I also have some fruit; cantaloupe, grapes, cherries and strawberries.

When I got home I had a turkey pastrami wrap with lettuce and mustard.

7/25/10

Today I didn't really have anything photo worthy.  For lunch my sister and I went to the Chinese buffet.  I had chicken and shrimp and some vegetables and crab and frogs legs!  I love those things.

For dinner I had a ham and cheese wrap with lettuce, and about 1/4 lb of cherries.  I'm addicted to cherries!

7/24/10

Another Saturday, so another bento for my daughter.  She really loves her Hello Kitty bento boxes, and almost anything I put in them is going to be eaten.  It's still a novelty for her, and since I only do it once a week I think it'll stay that way for a while.

She has a turkey sandwich on a whole wheat mini bagel with lettuce and mayo, some carrot sticks, two peach slices, a strawberry, some cantaloupe and half a star shaped boiled egg.  I was boiling eggs last night and she had one for a snack.  I gave her half of it first, and she stuffed the entire half in her mouth!  I didn't know her mouth would open that big, LOL.

For myself I packed a lot of the same things.  Since I'm low carb and can't have mini bagel sandwiches, I have chicken instead.

In the top tier I have two boiled eggs (a fish and a car) some strawberries, cantaloupe, grapes, and two cherries.  I don't think I've ever had fresh cherries.  They remind me of a plum, only not as juicy or sweet.  I really like them, but I could do without the pit!  In the bottom tier I have a baked chicken leg and some steamed zucchini.

A little later in the day I had a piece of leftover rotisserie chicken.  I went to my mom's house after work and I kind of fell off the carb wagon.  Let's see, I had some ice cream with hot fudge and whipped cream.  I had some spaghetti with whole wheat noodles.  I had some focaccia bread with dinner.  I believe it's safe to say that my diet was out the window for the day.  Back on the wagon tomorrow! :-)

32 pounds down

I started the Atkins diet on May 21st, 2010 following the advice of my doctor.  I've been diagnosed as pre-diabetic and he said the best way to keep diabetes from developing is to stop eating so many carbs.  His exact words were "Even if your mom, dad, sister and brother are diabetic, you don't have to be.  Stay on Atkins for as long as you can."  Well I've been on Atkins for 2 months now and I've lost a total of 32 pounds.  That is phenomenal to me.    I've got 13 more pounds to lose to complete the first of my personal weight loss goals.  I never dreamed I could lose weight so quickly by simply changing the way I eat.  I've been on so many diets and I usually caved after a week or two.  When I started Atkins it was like a lightbulb went on in my mind.  I decided to do it and once the decision was made it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be to stick by my decision. 

One of the main reasons it's been so much easier sticking to Atkins is because I'm blogging about everything I eat.  I feel accountable to everybody who reads this blog, so that really keeps me on track.  Now don't get me wrong; sometimes when I'm in the grocery store I still look longingly at the pastries and cakes.  But it's only for a few seconds and I don't feel the almost irresistable urge to grab them and throw them in the shopping cart.  Instead I'll opt for fruits or sugar free jello. 

I've learned so much from the other moms I blog with about how important nutrition is for our kids and why it's so important to create good eating habits while they're young.  That's another big reason for the change in my eating habits.  I want my daughter to learn that fruits and vegetables are so much better for us than fast food and candy.  She eats candy and pastries rarely, if ever.  She loves vegetables and I want to keep those habits strong for her.

So thank you to everybody who reads my blog and to all of the moms who share their experiences and creative ideas.  You've really helped me when I've hit a block as to what to fix for dinner :-)  Here's to another 32 pounds!!!

7/23/10

My 2 year old is in the living room sitting at her table and playing with her toys while muttering, "I got things to do, I got things to do."  That perfectly sums up my day!  I've got so much to do before work.  Last night I made some chili with ground beef, pinto beans, diced tomatoes and some chili seasoning.  I had to pay a little more for the chili seasoning that didn't include wheat flour, but it was worth it to cut out those unnecessary carbs. 

This is actually a photo of the bowl of chili I had last night.  But today's lunch is exactly the same.  I just packed the cheese and onions seperately.  I also have some green grapes and a side salad to go with it.

I also had a ham and cheese wrap and 2 boiled eggs when I got home.  Somewhere along the day I also had a baked chicken thigh.

7/22/10

I had a really busy day before work.  I went through a drive-thru and got a grilled chicken sandwich.  Yes, I ate the bread.  But s'ok.  :-)  No biggie.  I also had some rotisserie chicken when I got home.  It's 2:45 pm and I've had absolutely no veggies today.  I'm going to have to remedy that when I get home.

When I got home I had some zucchini and a bowl of homemade chili with onions and cheese.  Yum!

7/21/10 and a new bento box

The bento box I ordered from Japan finally made it to my home today. This is the second box I ordered from eBay. The first time around I neglected to look at the volume and ended up with a very tiny box. I now use it for my daughter :) So I had to hunt for my own box to use.

It's not pretty by any means; it looks very utilitarian. But it serves its purpose. It's got two tiers, a removable divider for one of them, the tray that holds the two tiers apart, and a lid with a compartment that houses a set of chopsticks. The lid snaps over everything to hold it together. It also came with a little carrying case.

When the whole box is put together it looks very small and compact, but it holds a lot of food. In the top tier I have some fajita chicken with bell peppers and onions. (I just sauteed everything with a little bit of fajita seasoning). In the bottom tier I have some cantaloupe, some grapes, marble cheese and a piece of my mom's homemade banana nut bread. Now before you think I'm losing it - I do realize the banana nut bread is NOT low carb. But if you could taste this bread, you would share my attitude of not-caring-at-this-point. :-)

I also had a low carb wrap with turkey and lettuce, some broccoli and some tilapia throughout the day.

7/20/10

I had some rotisserie chicken, some broccoli with cauliflower and some strawberries for lunch.  I didn't have anything for breakfast.

For dinner I had a salad from Subway which included lots of veggies, chicken and ranch dressing.
When I got home from work I had a carb smart tortilla with roast beef, lettuce and tomato and a piece of my mom's awesome banana nut bread.

7/19/10

For lunch I had a giant smoked turkey leg from the deli at Wal-Mart.  It was reminiscent of the smoked turkey legs at the fair.  Well, sort of.  There was some type of weird seasoning on it that's (thankfully) absent on the turkey legs at the fair.

For dinner I had a fajita.  I sauteed some onions and bell peppers, added chicken and a very little bit of fajita seasoning.  I put it all on a carb smart tortilla and it was tasty goodness.  I also had a small piece of cantaloupe.  I didn't eat much today, was running around busy most of the day.

7/18/10

I was dragging this morning and didn't pull myself out of bed until about 11 am.  I did some things on the computer and bathed Karma and fed her lunch about noon.  (She had breakfast about 8 am.  I then went back to bed.)  While she was eating lunch, I had brunch - the norm for me.

I had the last 3 scrambled egg muffins, 3 pieces of cantaloupe, some grapes and the last 3 strawberries.  I guess my theme for this morning was "3" :-)

I spent evening at my mom's and for dinner we had chicken, salad, and pinto beans.  I also had a piece of my mom's homemade banana nut bread.  OMG, it is SO good.  Which prompted me to take the entire loaf home.  I froze it, though, lest I eat the entire thing.

7/17/10

 kept it simple for today's lunch.  I need to take a trip to the market, and so I'm running low on a few things.  But, I've got a stash of go-to things in the fridge for just such an emergency.

I have 3 scrambled egg muffins that I made the other day.  (I love this cute little high heel pick)  I also have some celery.  I have ranch in a seperate container for dipping.  I have some cantaloupe, grapes and 2 big strawberries.

On the way home from work I was so hungry and I didn't feel like trying to cook anything.  So I went to the Chinese restaurant to get buffet to go.  I got chicken, green beans, mushrooms, shrimp, pork and an oyster with some heavenly cheese sauce type stuff baked on top of it.  Sooooo good!

I went to my mom's house for dinner and we had stuffed bell peppers.  It was just basically meatloaf stuffed into hollowed out bell peppers.  I love them!  I also had some green beans.

Easy Lunchbox Giveaway

I've really gotten into the habit of packing my lunch the night before so I don't have one more thing to do before I head out the door.  Sometimes, though, I have to pack 2 or 3 different containers because I don't want all of my food mixing together.  Wouldn't it be great if there were a durable container that I could pack everything into and not dirty 2 or 3 containers in the process??!!  Enter:  Easy Lunchboxes!

The entire system is genius!  The bottom containers are made of durable (BPA free) plastic, as is each lid.  They're completely microwave/dishwasher safe and they hold a lot of food!  I know a lot of mothers pack these for their kids, but they also hold enough food to feed an adult.  Each set comes with four containers, four different color lids, and an awesome carrying bag.

  The bags come in Black, Dark Red, Olive, Purple and Aqua.  If you'd like to get a set for yourself, enter the giveaway at this site and put your name in the hat.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed!!

7/16/10

When I got up at brunch/lunch time I had a carb smart tortilla with turkey, lettuce and mustard.  About an hour later I had some turkey with gouda cheese.  I felt like I hadn't eaten anything!

Last night I did a little bit of baking because I was a little sick of salads.  I made some sausage stuffed mushrooms.  I also made some scrambled egg muffins.  The egg muffins are filling, and very low carb.  This variety has mushrooms, sausage, bell peppers, onions, garlic, spinach and some mozzarella cheese.

There's also a cute little fairy peeking out from one of the egg muffins.  I got her along with some other cute picks from eBay.

Since I didn't pack a salad for today I still needed some vegetables.  So I have some cucumbers, celery and half a tomato along with some ranch.  This is the coolest little container.  The middle is built into the bigger portion, and it's got a separate lid to keep dip from getting all over everything.

And last but not least I have some strawberries, cantaloupe and green grapes.  This was a great meal but about 3 hours after I'd eaten I was hungry.  Unfortunately I was stuck at work with nothing to eat.  One of the girls here graciously gave me a ham and cheese sandwich on *white* bread.  So I took off the top piece of bread, which was the thickest, and ate the rest of the sandwich.  My tummy didn't hurt any more but then I kind of felt like a cheater for eating bread.  Oh well, can't beat myself up over it!

7/16/10

I was doing so much running around today that I didn't get a chance to eat until about 4 pm.  By then I felt like I was starving.  I had a salad from Subway with lettuce, spinach, tomato, cucumbers, bell peppers, banana peppers, onions, olives, bacon, chicken and cheese.  I had a small amount of ranch dressing on the side.

For my dinner time meal, I had some leftover spaghetti sauce with spaghetti sauce.  I made the sauce a few days ago and needed to finish it. 

7/14/10

Today is going to be a long day.  I've got some appointments before work, so I packed a lunch and I also packed a chicken breast to eat on the go :-).

For lunch I have a whole wheat carb smart tortilla (10g net carbs) with turkey, lettuce and mustard.  I also have some tuna salad left over from yesterday, half a boiled egg and some cucumber slices and bell pepper strips.  I didn't include any fruit because I've got the tortilla which adds more carbs than usual.  I omitted the fruit to balance the carb count.

7/13/10

I went to lunch with my mom today.  I had chicken, greens, cabbage, and a small pork chop.  (it was a buffet).  It was all really good, and even though I really wanted the fried chicken, rolls and desserts, I refrained.   For my dinner time meal I cut up a baked chicken breast and make a salad.

I have the base of the salad in the bottom of my Fit & Fresh lunch box.  It includes lettuce, tomato, celery, bell peppers, cucumbers, heese, an egg and some of the crunchy salad topping I have in the fridge.

In one of the top containers I put some grapes and kitty shaped cheese.  I put the chicken in the other container so I can heat it up before putting it on the salad.

When I got home this evening I made some tuna salad for tomorrow's lunch.  I was hungry, so I ate some tonight as well.  It includes tuna, mayo, eggs, onion, celery and salt and pepper.

While I was shopping at Target last night I found all kinds of cool stuff on their dollar aisle.  I got my daughter a couple of bento boxes, a reusable water bottle and some adorable whole wheat mini bagels!

So when we came home she had to have a turkey, lettuce and mayo sandwich on a mini bagel.  She also has some goldfish crackers and a strawberry.  Just so adorable and the perfect size for her.

7/12/10

This morning I had a turkey, lettuce and mustard wrap on a carb smart tortilla.  Those tortillas are a lot softer than regular tortillas.

Before I went to work I had a hamburger with cheese, tomato, pickles, and mayo.  No bun - it was wrapped in lettuce instead.

I was not inspired when I made today's work meal.  I was tired last night and just gazing into the refrigerator wondering what on earth I was going to fix for myself. 

I ended up with almost an entire zucchini that I sauteed in a little bit of oil, two tilapia filets that I cooked the same way.

I also have some strawberries (you can see them peeking under the cheese), cantaloupe, blueberries, grapes and cheese.  I also have some olives and cucumbers.  Everything is packed into my Fit & Fresh lunch box, and I love the way it all fits together.  Like I said, it's not a very creative lunch, but it'll do.

7/11/10

I spent most of today at home doing some housework and just hanging out.  I had the luxury of sleeping as late as I wanted, because my niece was here looking after my 2 year old.  When I got up I had some low carb spaghetti.  A couple of hours later I had a salad with pepperoni on it and some ranch.  Later this evening I had a carb smart wrap with turkey, lettuce and mustard, along with some zucchini and a tilapia filet.  I went to the grocery store while I was hungry (I know better!) and I debated with myself over buying some carb smart ice cream bars.  I carted them around in my basket for about 10 minutes before I finally put them back.  That's a real testament to my willpower!  A few months ago I would have bought a carton of regular ice cream without any second thoughts.

7/10/10

 For lunch I went with something a little lighter than the spaghetti I had yesterday.

I have a salad with lettuce, spinach, tomato, cucumber, celery, half an egg and pepperoni.  I have some ranch dressing in a separate container.

I also have some cheese, olives, grapes, cantaloupe, strawberries and blueberries.  This is all packed in my new Fit & Fresh lunch box.  I love this thing; it's so convenient.

Then I also packed my daughter a lunch for today.  My younger sister babysits her on Saturdays while I work, which I really appreciate.  Unfortunately, she usually takes her to McDonald's for nuggets every Saturday.  So I've started packing a lunch for her while I'm away on Saturdays.

I made her mini corndog muffins.  I was a little sneaky and added diced zucchini to them.  We'll see if she notices :-).  She also has two cucumber slices, carrot sticks, half a star shaped boiled egg, some grapes, cantaloupe, and a strawberry.  It's all packed in her adorable heart shaped Hello Kitty bento box.

After work I went to my mom's house and had a bowl of shrimp with a little bit of butter.  Who doesn't love shrimp?  For dinner we had meatloaf, salad, and steamed broccoli.  Tasty!

Fruit and yogurt popsicles

I was reading this site and decided I really wanted to make some fresh fruit popsicles.  The author poses the question "Popsicles for breakfast?"  and I thought "Why not?".  These popsicles are made from strawberry, kiwi, plain nonfat yogurt, and  a little bit of Splenda to sweeten it slightly.

I put it all in the blender and pureed it for a while and then poured into these little molds.  I froze them overnight, and this morning they were ready!

Karma had one and loved it.  I feel so much better giving this to her, rather than those sickening sweet popsicles I can buy in the freezer section that are made of corn syrup and a long list of words I can't pronounce.  Popsicles for breakfast.  What a great idea!

7/9/10

I wasn't very prepared today.  I did make a lunch for dinner this evening at work, but I failed to eat before I left the house.  I was running errands, and I felt like I was starving by the time I got to work.  A girl who works here brought some chicken salad and cheesecake to share with everybody, and I just couldn't resist.  The chicken salad wasn't bad when it comes to carbs but the slice of cheesecake I had contained as many carbs as I'm supposed to be eating in 2 days!  It was so good, though. . .back on the wagon tomorrow!

I love spaghetti, and I've really been missing it.  My mom makes very good spaghetti sauce, and I've tried to duplicate her recipe.  It's not as good as hers (of course!), but it's pretty darn good regardless.  I added some mushrooms.  They make everything taste better!

Instead of noodles, I cooked a spaghetti squash.  I used the method of cutting it in half first and baking at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  It's a great alternative to traditional pasta.

I also have a salad with an egg, some olives, a strawberry, some blueberries and cantaloupe.  I let the cantaloupe sit on the cabinet for a couple of days this time after I bought it to ensure it was ripe.  Last time I bought a cantaloupe I cut it too soon and it wasn't quite ripe.  Yuck.

When I got home my sister had cooked cornish game hens.  I ate half of one.  It was good.

New Bento Boxes!

I went to Target today and had a ball in their housewares section.  I found the coolest little box called fit & fresh.  It's a big container that will hold a salad or something similar in the bottom.  Then it's got an ice pack that goes on top of that, and then two small containers that sit on top of the ice pack.  There's a lid that covers everything.  I think it's so cool!  In the picture here, the white cardboard part on the bottom represents the salad or whatever you would put in the bottom.

I also got a salad bowl with a domed lid.  The fantastic part is that the lid houses a fork and a little container to put dressing in! 

And then when I got home I had a package from Japan.  I opened it and found Karma's Hello Kitty bento!  It's adorable.

The spoon and fork fit inside the lid.  It's got two little compartments that come out for easy cleaning.

7/8/10

For lunch/brunch I kept it simple.  I had a carb smart tortilla (10g net carbs) with some deli roast beef, some mustard and lettuce.  So easy, and I love them!

Last night my sister fired up the grill and cooked hamburgers.  I mixed ground beef with mushrooms, onions, an egg, garlic, salt and pepper.  I put a piece of gouda cheese on each while they were on the grill.

I have one hamburger patty (cut in half to fit), some olives, and a salad with lettuce, tomato, mozzarella cheese and an egg sliced in my new handy dandy egg slicer.  The bottom of the egg was so weird!  It had a dent in it, so now the egg slices look like rockets, lol.

Then for dessert I have some kiwi, the last of the strawberries, some cantaloupe, grapes and marble cheese.

While I was at work I got really hungry all of a sudden. . .after I'd eaten all of this food!  So I went next door to Subway and got a salad with buffalo chicken on it.  I wanted barbecue chicken, but somehow I got buffalo instead.  Wasn't really that good.

7/7/10

I cooked meatballs last night for today's dinner.  I had 3 of them at lunch time.   I made them from ground beef, some tomato sauce, mushrooms, onions, garlic, salt, pepper and a little bit of italian seasoning. I cooked it on the stovetop in some tomato sauce.  They were kind of like a spaghetti meatball type thing.  Very good!  I also had a salad with lettuce, tomato, olives, pepperoni, cheese and some salad topping.

I've got a busy day today, and I knew I wouldn't have a chance to eat before I left the house.  So last night I prepared a lunch and some things to munch on throughout the day.

I have some veggies. . .or "crudites".  It wasn't very long ago that I pronounced that word "crew-dytes", LOL.  I have a few salad greens, some celery, green bell pepper and tomato.  I've got some ranch dressing to dip them in.  I also have some strawberries, lots of green grapes and marble cheese.  Grapes and cheese go so well together, in my opinion.

Then for dinner I have a meatball and quite a bit of steamed broccoli.  When I got home my sister grilled some hamburger patties.  I had two patties with gouda cheese, and a salad.

7/6/10

I had the last 2 scrambled egg muffins for breakfast this morning.  I also had some sunflower seeds to snack on.  A whole package only has 3g of net carbs.

For lunch I decided to do a low carb version of breaded fried chicken.  I crushed some pork rinds and seasoned them with salt, pepper, lemon pepper, garlic, and onion.  I coated two chicken breasts with it and baked at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.  The breading was really crispy, and the flavor was great!  It's my new go to recipe for low carb unfried chicken :-)

I cut up some of the chicken breast and put it over some salad greens.  I also have some celery and marble cheese shaped like a flower and two itsy-bitsy rocking horses.  I have ranch dressing on the side to dip the celery in and put on the salad.  I also have some strawberries, grapes and kiwi.  (You can't see it, but it's under the grapes.)  I finally found green grapes at the grocery store!  Last time I went they only had red grapes, and they just are not as good as the green ones, IMHO.  Grapes and cheese just go so good together!

When I got home I cooked 3 tilapia filets in a little bit of butter.  I was so hungry, and they were so good.

7/5/10

I usually don't have breakfast because I don't get up early enough for it.  I do, however, have brunch a lot of days.  Today was no exception.  For brunch I had 3 scrambled egg muffins.

For lunch I packed a salad with greens, tomato, gouda cheese and some salmon.  I also packed a fruit salad with strawberries, grapes and kiwi.  I've got to be good the rest of this week to make up for yesterday :-)

For tomorrow's lunch I cooked some chicken breast.  I really wanted fried chicken, but I knew I couldn't have it.  So I started googling and found a recipe for breaded baked chicken.  The catch is that the breading is made up of crushed pork rinds.  So I got some, crushed them, seasoned them with salt, pepper, lemon pepper, garlic and onion powder.  I coated the chicken and baked it.  When it came out the "breading" was crispy and it was really good!  It absolutely didn't taste like pork rinds on chicken, LOL.  I'm sure I'll do that again when I'm really wanting fried chicken.  I had one piece tonight for a late dinner.  The other piece is for tomorrow's lunch.

7/4/10

I went to see Eclipse today, fantastic!  I had a medium popcorn at the theatre. 

Later on I had 2 wraps on carb watch tortillas (10g net carb per tortilla) with turkey pastrami, lettuce, spicy mustard and gouda cheese.

Then, for the holiday, we went to my sister and brother in law's house.  He smoked ribs and we had baked beans and grilled corn on the cob.  For dessert, we had ice cream. 

Obviously my diet was out the window for the day :-).  But, if I'd been on a regular calorie or fat counting diet, I would have done ok.  I didn't eat anything that was hugely high in either.  But the meal did have a lot of carbs.  I absolutely don't feel bad about it, though, because it was a holiday and I deserved it :)

I weighed myself as soon as I got up yesterday, and using that number I've lost 27 pounds since starting Atkins.  Of course that weight was based on the fact that I'd been fasting all night, but it was nice to see!

7/3/10

I ate about 11 this morning, so we'll call it brunch.

I had 2 scrambled egg muffins with eggs, sausage, mushrooms, gouda cheese, spinach, onions, garlic, bell pepper, salt and pepper.  I also had some celery with ranch, two big tomato slices, two strawberries and some grapes.

For lunch I had a chicken breast.  No veggies or anything. 

My neices came over this evening and I decided to cook a pork tenderloin to feed us all.  The girls had tenderloin, mashed potatoes, broccoli, yellow squash and strawberries and grapes for dessert.

I just had tenderloin, broccoli, and yellow squash.  (I was cutting up the girls meat and ended up cutting mine up too, LOL)

7/2/10

Today was one of my vacation days, but I still ran all over creation!  I didn't eat until about 1:30 pm, and that was half a bag of trail mix.  Then I got to my mom's house and had some lunch meat and gouda cheese.  Then for dinner we had taco salads.  So good!  Seasoned ground beef, pinto beans, lettuce, tomato, black olives, onions and homemade salsa.  I also had one corn tortilla. 

7/1/10

I had literally 5 minutes to throw something together for lunch today.  I was super late and I didn't think to pack a lunch last night.  Good thing I had some things prepped in the fridge.

I ended up with a salad made up of lettuce, tomato, cucumbers,black olives, shredded cheese and some

leftover salmon from the Chinese restaurant last night.  I put zesty italian dressing on it.  I also have some strawberries and some grapes.  Very simple but filling.

For dinner my sister fired up the grill.  I think I hurt myself on the food.  :-)  At least it was all low carb!

We had grilled shrimp skewers.  DELICIOUS!!!

Then we had a ribeye steak and some grilled vegetable skewers that included zucchini, onion and mushrooms.  OMG, talk about grill food overload.  I couldn't finish the steak, but it was awesome.