FUEGO!!

Note to self: If you remember that you got some melted pizza cheese stuck to the bottom of your oven, clean it off before you put $40 of filet mignon steak and veggies in the oven. Or else you get an oven fire and will have to go out to dinner after you air out the apartment... Don't tell the landlords lol. 

Tea food!

Medifast in a silicone mini bunt pan/ cupcake pan. Each cake is one meal. Add a little whipped cream, Tea worthy creations. 

Oh ya, pumpkin spice coffee worthy too :)

The Daily Otter

I Weighed Myself. Treat Now?

Posted on October 13, 2014

Via Beginners Blog Otter

I get emails from "the daily otter" cause I love otters (duh) and this one made me laugh. It's so true!

BBQ is AWESOME even overdone

I was on a huge bbq kick this week. I was at a health food store that had the most amazing looking Kebabs made with filet mignon! Im sorry is there a better thing to eat than filet in any form? so I had to buy them. I must confess that I am not the best beef expert. I mean I have eaten enough to decimate a small herd in my lifetime, (but look at my father. I SWEAR he's personally put at least three American Cattle Ranchers children through Ivy League colleges with the amount of beef he has purchased and eaten in the past fifty or so years! so I come by it naturally) 

BUT I like my steak well done. (Dad stop rolling your eyes at me!) 

Yes it is how I like it, No i don't think your jokes about killing the cow twice is funny. YES Im sure you should leave it on LONGER!

My father took 26 years to come to terms with the fact I do NOT like pink in my meat. He likes medium rare to rare.

I know I over cook my beef for my husbands taste as well, and so for my husbands sake I bought a meat thermometer in my earnest attempt to keep his steak at an appropriate temperature. I do love the man after all... I dont like to buy expensive beef to cook cause till I get the knack of it I don't want to "ruin" the steak. 

My dad would say almost every BBQ, "Darn! Over cooked it!" chew chew chew swallow, "Humm, it has a good flavor though."

I didn't want Michael to suffer the same fate as my father. So, when I saw these kabas I don't know why, but I felt confident that I could cook them appropriately. I bought them. 

heating

they kinda fell apart a bit on the grill

Off the grill

tried to make a "cream" sauce alla Medifast,,, fail

Lets just say, I will not be buying filet for a while yet. 

I kid you not, I heard "hmm! A bit overcooked for my taste!" chew chew chew swallow, "but, it has a pretty good flavor though."

I cant complain though, this is the same man who ate the NON EDIBLE THING that I thought was supposed to be beef stroganoff a couple months back. (Remember, the dog wouldn't eat it???) Michael ate it because he didn't want to hurt my feelings.... He's going to get points for a LONNNNNGGG time for that one. 

Mine was perfect (well done) but I think I need to keep practicing on chicken a few more weeks. 

Medifast BBQ Round Two... FIGHT!

Through the magic of technology you have no idea that the post that came before this one was months before, but here we are again. Its BBQ time and making Bison burgers again cause they were such a hit. 

I got some smoke chips that I tried on this occasion. 

Used a burger press after weighing out the patties 

grill away little burgers

add cheese and pickles

happy husband!

I tried an experiment with "fries" with green beans
they were good but not fries. Just yummy
green beans lol

Medifast BBQ

Made BBQ Bison burgers and many many grilled veggies tonight.
I used the recipe from Sandy again: http://www.sandyskitchenadventures.com/2011/07/lynns-favorite-meatloaf.html

I followed a recipe for Medifast beef meatloaf that made 4 servings.
SOOOOO..... I altered it.
I used bison instead of beef to get a bit more meat.
Made it into patties instead of loaves.
Used the BBQ instead of baking in the oven.
So basically, I changed everything, but it was SO GOOD!

Thai Pizza

Tonight was Thai Chicken Peanut Pizza.
I have always ordered the Thai pizza at California Pizza Kitchen and LOVE IT! I also have had cauliflower pizza and enjoy it a great deal. Im a big fan of Thai food of really any kind. So when I came across Sandy's version of this I HAD to try it. My husband isn't always a peanut fan. He usually doesn't like nuts at all. Not even peanut butter. What a strange man... So i promised to figure out more beef and a burger for him one night if he let me cook this one night. He ended up loving this pizza! he says it is in the top three of all Medifast lean and greens I've cooked so far. I love that man.
I think for me the BEST part was the crust and the WORST part the crust. let me explain.
The best, the flavor and consistency was perfect for pizza, not granular or chunky. Not watery or mushy. It was actually crispy on the edges and could even be folded like a real pizza crust.
Now why you ask, when I say how amazing it was, do I say it was the worst?

Well, refer to the pictures below.
 I tried to flip the crust over to bake the underside and it got stuck to my parchment paper and spatula and folded onto itself. The more I tried to unfold it the more it folded and then stuck to my spatula. I ended with odd crustS (plural) not perfect crust. I was so upset. I was very proud of how it looked before. Like a REAL pizza crust. Then came the disaster. I had a memory of the movie Julie and Julia where Julie has a melt down with her trussed chicken. She falls on the floor having a tearful tantrum and I HONESTLY had a similar experience. **BLUSH** But unlike in the movie my husband came to my rescue and let me cry on his shoulder about my pizza crust disaster. :) Ok got off the floor and realized it would still taste the same, just keep going.

Another thing, with Medifast you really don't have too terribly many options with "if my dinner just totally bombed lets just go grab dinner out" So either go to a restaurant and risk failure (in that mood I would have had trouble) or keep going and eat funny looking crust.

I kept going.

Chunky frozen cauliflower in cheese and eggs

I had frozen cauliflower left over from last week and I decided to use it as a "quick" step saver. Well, it decided to stay frozen too long and I took matters into my own hands. I nuked it in 15 second intervals until it was MOSTLY unfrozen, but was still cool enough not to cook the eggs and melt the cheese I had already added. I started mixing with a wooden spoon (as I would have with fresh cauliflower) it was still leaving big chunks of frozen cauliflower and I knew that wouldn't make a good crust. So I grabbed my new hand mixer and started beating the heck out of the stuff. It not only worked, it did so in spectacular fashion!
I credit that hand mixer with my amazing crust. It was beat into submission and smooth (as smooth as cauliflower can get I guess)

I spread it out thin on a cookie sheet

started to bake

PERFECT, before the disaster 

grilling chicken

after disaster...

back in oven to finish

onion and cilantro

chicken and mung beans (bean sprouts) 

I did adjust the peanut sauce

The peanut sauce was made exactly as the directions said and I tasted it and it wasn't what i wanted. I started over. I used PB2, water, and a SPLASH of soy/teriyaki added a mini dash of fresh ginger (like 1/16th of a teaspoon if thats a thing) and then 1/4 teaspoon of sesame oil and a few shakes of red pepper flakes. I made half of what the recipe called for. I doubled the recipe for evertything except for the sause and my huband and I split the sause perfectly well. It was enough but not too much. 

before cheese, with chicken and veggies on crust pieces

added cheese and popped under broiler. 

It was SO GOOD!

I am making this again, and again, and again! It was the perfect food for Friday night movie night with my sweety. He loved it and wants me to do it again too! Huza! 

Taco Salad

Tonight was a simple taco salad. I love tacos, there my birthday meal request form my mom. I basically lived on turkey (cheeper than beef- I was a starving student after all) taco meat. beans rice and cheese in college. I ate it at LEAST twice a week and still love the stuff. Having said that, the way I make tacos, and taco meat is NOT medifast friendly. Too much cheese, sour cream, salsa, beans, rice. All not allowed on MF. Today was the first day I realized that, after looking foward to a comfort meal that im used to and could make in my sleep. I read the ingredients and was still under the illusion it was a version of "my" taco salad. SO SORRY CHARLIE!

I used my personal favorite brand of taco seasoning (the one mom uses :) duh!) As you can see, I buy it in family size cause I use it so much and just roll the top shut and use it next time. Cheaper... 

Just like Mom's

The recipe called for tomatoes to top the salad. I personally dont like tomatoes in salad (or raw in most cases) so I added them to the meat in lieu of salsa (which is a staple of "my" taco salad) 

 Note to self: Portion the weighed meat BEFORE adding tomatoes.

I had some left over bell peppers in my fridge from last nights dinner, and I was thinking Fajitas! so I added them to the salad and cut back on the lettuce. 

Grilled peppers (and 1/2 a left-over zucchini)

Why are you supposed to remove skin? I have no idea...

I NEEDED onion and figured Id just count it to my greens,
though technically a cheat. Can't have mexican without onion.

Lets just say, this is Not what my taco salad usually looks like

I understand that Im on a diet for a while, and I got to where I am by eating the way I always have, but boy, it was kinda a shock to see what I always eat in contrast to what's HEALTHY... how sad. 

It was a tasty salad, just took some getting used to... 

New Grill!

Our complex only allows electric grills in the apartments. We were walking through Lowes and found one! Looks just like a regular one! (after I assembled it...) 

Tadah! 

All preheated and ready to go.

Add Veggies...

Put feet up and wait. 

The end :)